11.03.2008 - Source: US Department of State

Forced relocation because of urban development continued and in some locations, increased during the year ("Country Report on Human Rights Practices 2007") [ID 22844]

"Forced relocation because of urban development continued and in some locations, increased during the year. During the year protests over relocation terms or compensation, some of which included thousands of participants, took place and some protest leaders were prosecuted. Some activists and NGOs linked evictions in Beijing to construction for the 2008 Olympics. In rural areas, relocation for major state projects, such as dams, and for commercial development resulted in the forced relocation of millions of persons."

Document(s): Open document

06.2007 - Source: Freedom House

One of the major sources of discontent in both rural and urban areas is the confiscation of land without adequate compensation ("Freedom in the World 2007") [ID 20408]

"The Ministry of Public Security reported that the number of “mass incidents” fell by a fifth in the first 10 months of 2006 to 17,900; however, “mass incidents” are more narrowly defined than “public order disturbances,” of which 87,000 were reported in 2005, up from 74,000 in 2004. One of the major sources of discontent in both rural and urban areas is the confiscation of land without adequate compensation, often involving collusion between local government and developers eager to profit from China’s rapid urbanization. The authorities continue to frequently employ excessive force to quell such disturbances. Numerous people were injured and a teenage girl was killed in clashes between villagers and police in Panlong, Guangdong Province, in January 2006."

Document(s): Open document

06.03.2007 - Source: US Department of State

Forced relocation because of urban development continued ("Country Report on Human Rights Practices 2006") [ID 19082]

"Forced relocation because of urban development continued, and in some locations, increased during the year. Protests over relocation terms or compensation, some of which included thousands of participants, were common, and some protest leaders were prosecuted during the year (see sections 2.b. and 3). Many evictions in Beijing were linked to construction for the 2008 Olympics. In rural areas, relocation for major state projects, such as dams, and for commercial development resulted in the forced relocation of millions of persons."

Document(s): Open document

01.2007 - Source: Human Rights Watch

Land seizures and forced evictions ("World Report 2007") [ID 18579]

"In March 2006, in an effort to curb legal activism around issues such as land seizures, forced evictions, and environmental and labor grievances, the government imposed new restrictions on lawyers representing protesters. As of April, new “Guiding Opinions on Lawyers” require lawyers and law firms to report to and seek instructions from local judicial authorities—often themselves party to the disputes— in all cases involving 10 plaintiffs or more. Coerced confessions, legal procedures weighted in favor of the state, closed trials, and administrative sentencing continue to undermine defendants’ rights."

Document(s): Open document

01.2007 - Source: Human Rights Watch

Forced Evictions and the 2008 Beijing Olympics ("World Report 2007") [ID 18580]

"Forced evictions have increased as Beijing clears entire neighborhoods to make room for Olympic sites and to beautify the city. An official with the Beijing Municipal Administration of State Land, Resources and Housing has indicated that some 300,000 people are scheduled for relocation to accommodate beautification projects alone.

With courts offering little protection, residents have banded together to protest collusion between developers and local officials who forcibly evict them from their homes or sell off the land they have been farming. Residents rarely win, in part because land is not individually owned."

Document(s): Open document

21.09.2006 - Source: Amnesty International

Beijing: Alleged forced evictions continue to be reported ("The Olympics countdown – failing to keep human rights promises [ASA 17/046/2006]") [ID 19317]

"Alleged forced evictions continue to be reported in Beijing. For example, in July 2006, it was reported that ten families were refusing to leave a building located next to the new site of China Central Television (which will broadcast the Olympics in 2008) claiming that offers of compensation from the local authorities are inadequate. Protest slogans plastered over the building reportedly read: ‘don’t cheat and bully people’, ‘human rights’, and ‘illegal demolition’.(33) Residents of Beijing’s historic Qianmen district have also complained about the low levels of compensation offered for their homes due to demolition and re-construction. One (unnamed) resident reportedly said: "The Olympics is good for China, it shows that we have the ability, the strength, the wealth to hold such an international event. But it should not be used as an excuse to hurt ordinary citizens, to drive people from their homes."(34) Another resident surnamed Yu added: "The Olympics has dealt a great blow to ordinary citizens, it has disrupted our lives. This is what we feel about it, but we cannot say it out loud."(35)

Amnesty International has already raised serious concerns about the imprisonment of Ye Guozhu after he sought permission to organize a demonstration in Beijing with other alleged victims of forced evictions due to construction in preparation for the Olympic Games.(36) Ye Guozhu continues to serve his four-year sentence in Chaobai prison after being convicted of ‘picking quarrels and stirring up trouble’ by the No.2 Beijing Municipal Intermediate Court on 18 December 2004. Amnesty International considers Ye Guozhu to be a prisoner of conscience, detained solely in violation of his rights to expression, association and assembly, and continues to urge the Chinese authorities to release him immediately and unconditionally.

It has recently emerged that Ye Guozhu has been tortured in detention. According to reliable reports received by Amnesty International, he was suspended from the ceiling by the arms and beaten repeatedly by police in Dongcheng district detention centre, Beijing, before he was imprisoned, causing him serious back pain. He was also reportedly tortured while being held in a different prison, Qingyuan prison, for four months in the second half of 2005, apparently because he refused to admit his ‘guilt’. This included beatings with electro-shock batons, being forced to sit upright all day on a hard chair for extended periods, and being forced to wear hand-cuffs and fetters which caused swelling around his ankles. His treatment appears to have improved in Chaobai prison, but he suffers from pre-existing medical complaints, including high blood pressure, heart problems and cerebral thrombosis. He also reportedly suffers pain in his back and ankles as a result of his previous torture and ill-treatment. The prison authorities are reportedly only providing him with basic medicine for high blood pressure, leaving his other ailments and injuries untreated.

Other activists have also been subjected to forced evictions as a result of Olympics-related construction in Beijing. Qi Zhiyong, who had to have a leg amputated as a result of being shot by security forces during the 1989 Tiananmen crackdown, set up a small shop in Beijing to eke out a living after being forced to resign from his company due to his disability. However, he has been forced to move this shop several times as a result of construction apparently related to the Olympics. Earlier this year, the authorities revoked his trading license and detained him for 51 days after he participated in a ‘hunger-strike’ protest in February 2006 to draw attention to recent beatings of other Chinese activists and the lawyers that sought to defend them. Qi’s wife was also dismissed from her job, apparently as a result of her husband’s campaigning activities. With an eight-year old daughter to support and faced with high medical bills to treat the lingering effects of his injury, Qi Zhiyong and his wife find it hard to make ends meet.(37)

Those seeking to obtain justice for victims of alleged forced evictions in other cities have also been detained and harassed. Defence lawyer Zheng Enchong, who had built up a reputation defending those forced out of their homes as a result of construction in Shanghai continues to suffer harassment and intimidation, even after his release from prison on 5 June 2006.(38) He was detained on four separate occasions by the police in June and July about issues relating to his work as a lawyer, including information they discovered on his computer about alleged forced evictions. He has reportedly been warned by local police and officials that his safety may be in danger if he continues to work on such issues. His family have also been warned not to speak to the media about his situation.(39)"

Document(s): Open document

01.06.2006 - Source: Human Rights Watch

No public reports of a transparent investigation into the case of security forces firing at villagers who were protesting insufficient compensation for land taken for power plant construction in Guangdong province in December 2005; government claims that the relevant people have already been gravely disciplined ("Dongzhou Killings Must Be Investigated") [ID 17198]

Document(s): Open document

24.04.2006 - Source: Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada

Response on civil unrest involving farmers, workers, homeowners and tenants, particularly in rural areas of Guangdong (conditions causing the unrest; government response; reports of arrests, beatings and detention) ("Civil unrest involving farmers, workers, homeowners and tenants, particularly in rural areas of Guangdong; conditions causing the unrest; government response; reports of arrests, beatings and detention (2004 - 2006) [CHN101063.EX]") [ID 21978]

Document(s): Open document

05.09.2005 - Source: Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty

Continued often-violent protests by locals over corruption, land-grabs, taxation or environmental issues in rural areas; in response, security officials set up elite police squads in 36 cities to deal with riots and measures are taken to limit journalistic coverage of events ("China: Frustrated Citizens Take To The Streets") [#36267],  [ID 4453]

Document(s): Open document

05.09.2005 - Source: Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty

Continued often-violent protests by locals over corruption, land-grabs, taxation or environmental issues in rural areas; in response, security officials set up elite police squads in 36 cities to deal with riots and measures are taken to limit journalistic coverage of events ("China: Frustrated Citizens Take To The Streets") [#36267],  [ID 4463]

Document(s): Open document

16.06.2005 - Source: BBC News

Shenyou: 6 people killed in clashes between local farmers and unknown men ("Bloody China riot caught on film") [#32893],  [ID 4454]

Document(s): Open document

28.09.2004 - Source: Human Rights Watch

Housing rights activist arrested after applying for legal permission to hold protest march against forced evictions ("Release Housing Rights Activist") [#25965],  [ID 4465]

Document(s): Open document

15.06.2004 - Source: BBC News

The Chinese authorities say they will demolish fewer buildings this year to try to defuse growing unrest over evictions ("China to defuse property unrest") [#23340],  [ID 4466]

Document(s): Open document

07.11.2003 - Source: World Organisation Against Torture

OMCT: Shanghai lawyer, involved in the defence of economic and social rights of displaced persons, sentenced to 3 years in prison and deprivation of his political rights for one year ("China : Condemnation of Zheng Enchong [CHN 001 / 0803 / OBS 041.3]") [#17448],  [ID 4455]

"Mr. Zheng Enchong had been arrested on June 6 after assisting displaced families in more than 500 cases relating to Shanghai’s urban redevelopment projects. He was imprisoned at the Shanghai Public Security Bureau Detention Center.
[...]
Before being arrested Mr. Zheng was advising families involved in a lawsuit alleging corrupt collusion between officials and a wealthy property developer, Mr. Zhou Zhengyi.

Mr. Enchong was tried behind closed doors on August 28th, on charges of “illegally providing state secrets to entities outside of China” at the Shanghai Second Intermediate People’s Court in Zhongshan North Road. Mr. Enchong’s wife, Jiang Meili, and other observers were barred from the court on the grounds that the case involved state secrets."

Document(s): Open document

22.08.2003 - Source: World Organisation Against Torture

OMCT: Formal public prosecution opened against a Shanghai lawyer involved in the defence of economic and social rights of displaced persons, on charges of illegally obtaining state secrets ("China : secret trial of Mr. Zheng Enchong [CHN 001 / 0803 / OBS 041]") [#15414],  [ID 4456]

"According to the information received, Mr. Zheng Enchong was arrested on June 6 after assisting displaced families in more than 500 cases relating to Shanghai's urban redevelopment projects. He is currently detained at the Shanghai Public Security Bureau Detention Center.
[...]
Mr. Zheng's license was revoked in 2001 in relation to cases he was handling for people displaced by urban redevelopment. In spite of Mr. Zheng's deprivation to practice law and increasing official persecution, he has continued to provide legal advice to people, even though he could not represent them in court.

Most recently Mr. Zheng was advising families involved in a lawsuit alleging corrupt collusion between officials and a wealthy property developer, Mr. Zhou Zhengyi. Although the authorities have not provided details regarding the reasons for Zheng's arrest, Mr. Zheng's June 3 arrest may be directly related to the Zhou Zhengyi case."

Document(s): Open document