Crackdown by China ahead of Tiananmen anniversary

BEIJING, JUNE 2. Beijing police have launched a crackdown to maintain social order two days prior to the anniversary of the June 4, 1989 military assault on democracy protesters in Tiananmen Square, local newspapers reported today.

More than 500 people with ``no papers, no money and no job'' were rounded up and placed in detention in a ``shock assault'' on Wednesday night, the Beijing Morning Post said. ``Outsiders to Beijing are many, public safety is complicated and crime is rising,'' the paper said of the raid.

A front-page picture showed a bus full of detainees, hands behind their heads and police dressed in camouflage fatigues and white helmets standing over them with truncheons.

The Beijing Youth Daily said the crackdown, largely aimed at the capital's huge migrant labour force, began last month and had already led to the detention of 1,300 people.

Sources linked to the banned Falungong sect said the Government had warned universities and other institutions to be on the lookout for Falungong members who may be planning to ``cause trouble'' on June 4.

Soldiers of the People's Liberation Army (PLA) opened fire on unarmed protesters in Tiananmen Square on the night of June 3, 1989, killing hundreds, if not thousands, of demonstrators. The protests, which called for greater democracy and an end to corruption and nepotism in government, have been labelled an ``anti-revolutionary rebellion'' by the Communist authorities.

- AFP

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Section  : International
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