Two recent incidents within a span of one month have demonstrated that there is an undercurrent of anger and frustration among the local Chinese population against the country’s public authority and law enforcement agencies.
Unconfirmed sources suggest that a public protest erupted in Dong Xing area of Neijiang city in Sichuan during the evening of June 13, 2023. The reason for the protest was beating of an egg seller by a six men team of patrolling personnel and urban management. This created an outrage among the public and a large crowd from surrounding areas and communities gathered at the location and started protesting and shouting against the city administration. When the crowd became unmanageable for the local security personnel, the Neijiang Municipal Party Committee Secretary and the Director of Public Security were called at the protesting site.Failing to persuade the demonstrating and protesting crowd to peacefully disperse, they handed over all the six patrolling and urban management personnel to the police. While being taken to the detention center, the arrested personnelwere beaten up by the crowd. They werealso been suspended from their duties.
Not long ago, another such case of assault by law enforcement officers was reported from Guizhou province. On May 23, 2023, a reporter surnamed Li, who worked with online news-portal Jimu News, was beaten by three police officers over his investigation into the deaths of two teachers. Li had arrived in Guizhou from Hubei province to follow up his earlier reporting on the teachers, who had drowned in a local river after a sudden discharge by a power station upstream.The officers were suspended and detained for allegedly beating the reporter according to a statement issued by the Bijie municipal government in the southern province of Guizhou.The statement failed to quell the concerns of locals and sparked a heated and rare public debate about the hostility and heavy restrictions faced by journalists in China.
The video of the attack went viral on social media with more than 5 million views. In a widely circulated social media post Xu Jiangqiao, an editor for Jimu News said, “We stand firm to defend the rights of reporters and demand justice for Li”. One Weibo user wrote: “Why did the police officers follow the reporter? Who gave the order? This is the key!” Another said: “We should support the reporter and not let reporters covering social news feel frightened and disappointed”.
Zhan Jiang, a retired professor with Beijing Foreign Studies University who closely tracks China’s media issues, said the industry had faced growing hostility in recent years, with an increase in censorship and violence against reporters. He added that the media environmentwas at a stage of suffocation.Most investigative reporters have left the industry, especially those who specialize in ‘hardcore’ topics, and those who have stayed face huge difficulties in their reporting.In 2020, several journalists were beaten and barred from reporting in Henan province, central China, after travelling there from Chengdu, Beijing and Chongqing to report on the deaths of several children who were found buried in an illegal construction site.
Media control has tightened in China since 2016, when Chinese President Xi Jinping ordered Communist Party outlets to toe the party’s line on all major issues. In a high-profile visit to newsrooms, Xi had said that all reporting and commentaries should follow “the right direction”.
The above incidents demonstrate Chinese government’s indifference towards individual’s human rights and free hand given to police personnel to ‘tackle’ people who do not toe the Party’s line.
