News: Security tight in Beijing after death of purged Chinese leader Zhao

BEIJING (AFP) – Security has been markedly stepped up in Tiananmen
Square, amid fears of protests related to the death of deposed Chinese
leader Zhao Ziyang, who opposed a crackdown on 1989 democracy protests
in the square.

Police were out in force, checking identification papers of visitors to
the site of the landmark protests 15 years ago where disgruntled
Chinese traditionally hold demonstrations.

News websites have now begun removing brief dispatches about the topic after shutting down chatrooms dealing with it on Monday.

The overseas Chinese Dajiyuan website reported that the state’s
People’s Daily website had more than 10,000 comments on Zhao’s death
immediately after it was reported.

But, as the number of comments began increasing, propaganda officials
ordered all websites to shut down chatrooms on the subject, it said.

Several of the postings, most all favorable and sympathetic to Zhao, were re-posted on the Dajiyuan website at http://www.dajiyuan.com.

AFP
Security tight in Beijing after death of purged Chinese leader Zhao

Mon Jan 17,10:55 PM ET

BEIJING (AFP) – Security has been markedly stepped up in Tiananmen Square, amid fears of protests related to the death of deposed Chinese leader Zhao Ziyang, who opposed a crackdown on 1989 democracy protests in the square.

Police were out in force, checking identification papers of visitors to the site of the landmark protests 15 years ago where disgruntled Chinese traditionally hold demonstrations.

The state-controlled media meanwhile played down reports of Zhao’s death on Monday at the age of 85. He had been seriously ill in a Beijing hospital for a month with a lung problem.

Zhao had spent nearly 16 years under house arrest after being sacked and disgraced for opposing the bloody crackdown in which hundreds, if not thousands, of unarmed protesters and citizens were killed in an army assault.

All major dailies Tuesday carried an identical brief dispatch without comment or photo of the former leader.

State television had by Tuesday still not mentioned his death, while reports on the event by international television broadcasters CNN and BBC were routinely blacked out throughout Monday and Tuesday morning.

News websites have now begun removing brief dispatches about the topic after shutting down chatrooms dealing with it on Monday.

The overseas Chinese Dajiyuan website reported that the state’s People’s Daily website had more than 10,000 comments on Zhao’s death immediately after it was reported.

But, as the number of comments began increasing, propaganda officials ordered all websites to shut down chatrooms on the subject, it said.

Several of the postings, most all favorable and sympathetic to Zhao, were re-posted on the Dajiyuan website at http://www.dajiyuan.com.

The government’s handling of the death appeared to indicate that Zhao remained an embarrassment to the ruling Communist Party and Premier Wen Jiabao, who have insisted the Tiananmen crackdown was necessary to preserve social and economic stability in China.

The government concern about possible protests is not without precedent.

In 1976 Chinese disgruntled with the ruling Communist Party used the death of popular former premier Zhou Enlai to hold huge protests on Tiananmen Square.

The 1989 Tiananmen democracy protests were sparked by the death of reformer and former party head Hu Yaobang.

Last week, perhaps already aware of Zhao’s fragile health, the Beijing city government announced that security on the square — where Zhao made his last public appearance with then aide Wen on May 19, 1989 — would be beefed up.

China’s dissident community Monday demanded the government hold a public funeral for the reformist former leader and make a fair assessment of his accomplishments.

But the news office of the State Council, or cabinet, said Tuesday no information was available on a funeral.

Tributes have poured in from around the world for Zhao, with dissidents and the Japanese and Taiwan leaders using the occasion to urge Beijing to push for the democratic reforms which he had envisioned.

Zhao served as the head of the Communist Party and China’s prime minister for much of the 1980s and is still credited for ushering in economic reforms that have led to 25 years of robust economic growth.