Veteran Democracy Activist Evicted, Harrassed in China’s Sichuan

Sandra Loyd

Authorities in the southwestern Chinese province of Sichuan have actually evicted dissident and 1989 pro-democracy motion veteran Chen Yunfei from his home after he slammed an exorbitant brand-new security law just recently troubled Hong Kong, RFA has actually discovered.

Chen had actually relocated to the Sichuan town of Pixian previously this month in addition to his senior mom after they were evicted from their previous home in Pixian county, near the provincial capital Chengdu.

“They sent round five or six gangster types who entered my home and sat there eating, drinking, and cursing,” he stated. “They were very loud, and they stopped my elderly mother from getting any rest.”

“That made me afraid to go out, so I couldn’t get anything to eat, then a bunch of them forced their way inside, smashing stuff up, and they snatched my phone off me and shoved me out of the door,” he stated.

“They even kicked me down the stairs, and then they sealed off the front door,” he stated.

However Chen’s difficulties aren’t over. The authorities in his brand-new place have actually likewise put pressure on his brand-new proprietor, who cut off his water and electrical power in the heat of summer season, he informed RFA on Thursday.

Chen stated he has actually been required to ask for fresh water for cleaning, bathing, and drinking from buddies and next-door neighbors, or usage water from a neighboring stream, or beverage mineral water.

Repetitive calls to the federal government helpline had actually made little distinction to his predicament, which has actually lasted for 2 weeks now, he stated.

“I made my 22nd call today,” Chen stated. “They didn’t tell me it couldn’t be resolved; they just passed the buck by saying the matter would be referred to the relevant department.”

“I have to go and ask for help at the police station every day,” he stated. “I just came out of there.”

“I go there to beg for water and charge my phone so I can still use it,” Chen stated, including that the difficulty had actually begun after he slammed the imposition of severe national security legislation on Hong Kong through his Twitter account.

” I composed that [former deputy public security minister] Sun Lijun had not handled [the situation in Hong Kong] well, which it was a little a joke that he needed to go down there in individual to attempt to manage 7 million people,” he stated.

“They told me to delete it because it was politically sensitive, but I told them that I don’t delete stuff,” he stated.

Pal’s account is closed

A pal of Chen’s surnamed Zhou stated his WeChat account had actually been closed down after he attempted to assist Chen.

“All I said was that I would take some water over to Chen Yunfei, as well as some other personal items,” he stated. “No sooner had I sent it, than about half an hour later I was automatically logged out of WeChat.”

“When I tried to log back in again, I was told that my account had been shut down for 31 days for spreading rumors,” Zhou stated.

Zhou stated Chen had actually purchased an electrical tricycle to bring his mom around searching for a brand-new home after their last expulsion.

“I feel so, so sorry for him; it’s absolutely chilling. I hope whoever it is will allow him some way to exist,” he stated.

Repetitive calls to the Pixian county federal government and authorities department sounded unanswered throughout office hours on Thursday.

Chen was quickly apprehended by authorities last month after he marked the anniversary of a massacre of civilians in Beijing on June 4, 1989 that ended weeks of student- led democracy demonstrations on Tiananmen Square.

The federal government restrictions public memorials marking the event, and has actually continued to disregard growing calls in China and from overseas for a reappraisal of the 1989 student demonstrations, which it when styled a “counterrevolutionary rebellion.”

Throughout an international online event marking the 31 st anniversary of the massacre in early June, Chen had actually commented: “We have actually seen wave upon wave of civil discontent and complaints in Hong Kong, from the [2003] Post 23 demonstrations to the anti-extradition motion and the opposition to the national security law.”

“These things show us that the Chinese government hasn’t found the root of popular malaise, and also that the things we were fighting for in the 1989 protest movement were the right things,” Chen stated. “There is no reason why we shouldn’t publicize and commemorate June 4 in any number of ways.”

Chen had actually formerly been sentenced to 4 years’ jail time over his celebration of the Tiananmen massacre by checking out the tomb of a 1989 student protester in 2015.

Reported by Gao Feng for RFA’s Mandarin Service. Equated and modified by Luisetta Mudie.

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