Friday, February 25, 2011

China increases arrests and censorship around the 'protests jasmine'

Beijing. .- The anonymous call to celebrate "protests jasmine" in various cities of China, in imitation of the Arab countries, is being answered by the communist government harassment of activists "rarely seen in previous years" and an increase in censorship, reported two human rights NGOs. According to a statement from the organization Human Rights in China (HRIC), in recent days "the authorities have launched a large-scale, coordinated campaign against human rights activists, who have been subjected to interrogations and arrests." HRIC notes that a day before the first call for protests on 20, Chinese President Hu Jintao delivered a speech in which he called the communist authorities at all levels to minimize "the harmonious elements" and and increase oversight of the Internet.

The NGO, based in New York and Hong Kong, the statement provides a list of about thirty activists in recent days have suffered harassment in Beijing, Shanghai and a dozen other Asian cities. Among them are "historic" as the lawyer Teng Biao, a veteran fighter for human rights has been under pressure on other occasions, usually to coincide with times "sensitive" to the Chinese government (the Nobel award to Liu Xiaobo, anniversaries the Tiananmen massacre, etc).

Reporters Without Borders (RSF) also ensures that censorship in the Asian giant is reaching "new levels" in recent days, coinciding with the wave of protests in Arab countries and calls to an imitation of them in China. Words like "jasmine", "Tunisia", "Libya", "Egypt" or "democracy" have been blocked in some internet browsers and micro-Chinese, and attempts to discuss the attempts of protest on 20 February.

According to RSF, one of the organizations most critical of the Chinese regime, China is "muzzling the population with an increasing censorship" and "stifling all forms of freedom of expression."

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