EastSouthWestNorth has translated parts of a report by a group called Chinese Rights Defenders (Gongmin Weiquan), which appears to be a collection of people both inside and outside of China, on the Dongzhou killings (the original Chinese text, on the web, can be found here). Some key findings:
1. Prior to the incident, the wind-powered plant at Shigongliao and the construction site of the coal-powered plant at Dongzhou were not attacked or damaged as indicated in the official reports.
2. Although there were numerous people on both sides when the incident took place, they were distinctly segregated and kept a distance away from each other. There was no cause for confusion.
3. When the incident occurred, the Dongzhou villagers were in a completely passive situation. There was no way for them to effectively attack the police or cause critical and major damages, and there were no signs of any such effort.
4. The shooting began not as a misjudgment at the scene, but the police actively and deliberately caused it.
5. The number of civilian casualties in the Dongzhou incident is undetermined and unverified as yet.
6. From the fact that armed police officers were mobilized to the cover-up activities after the police shot the villagers, this whole action showed that it was planned, organized and deliberate. The shooting must have been approved beforehand by the superiors as an acceptable action if the villagers refused to retreat.
7. From the signs before and after the incident, and from our understanding about how the military police would use firearms only if they have the approval from superiors, the order to shoot definitely did not come from the police commander at the scene or even a Shanwei City official.
This pretty much contradicts most of the official version of events. The question: can the truth get out? How far will the government go - and at this point we have to recognize that it is the central government in Beijing that is orchestrating the cover-up and "resolution" of the killings - in suppressing the truth?
The answer, it seems to me, is that Beijing will work as strenuously as possible to keep a lid on the Dongzhou killings. I am guessing that a decision has already been made at the very top to repress Dongzhou, perhaps in the hopes of dissuading others from taking similar action. The Chinese media silence on the killings speaks volumes.
We are coming into Spring Festival time. Most people will be focusing on visiting family and celebrating the new year; so, it is unlikely that another mass demonstration will break in the next few weeks. But once we get to February, more big protest demonstrations are possible. In March the National People's Congress, the national parliament, convenes, and the CCP usually clamps down hard on dissidents at that time. That is what the leadership is looking forward to: how to keep things from blowing up just before or during the NPC. For now, then, the Chinese Rights Defenders will face the full repressive capacities of the party-state. I hope they can survive.
Some images (from ESWN):
Above: a map showing the intersection where the killing ocurred.
Below: a photo of the same intersection.
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