Dokument #1291927
IRB – Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada (Autor)
Despite Western press interest in the
recent events in China, the Southern city of Canton has been
largely ignored. As the attached press clippings indicate, this may
be due to the fact that the demonstrations and aftermath in that
city were of a much lesser magnitude than in Beijing. This, in
turn, has been attributed to the relative prosperity of the
Guangdong region and the fact that Cantonese have access to Hong
Kong television and thus are well aware of the violent government
crackdown which the demonstrations in Beijing provoked (The
Times 14 June 1989). For details of the demonstrations in
Canton, please see the attached articles from the IRBDC'S on-line
data-base.
With regard to government reprisals against
the students, according to The Times, troops were brought
into Canton but remained out of sight. When news of the events in
Beijing reached the demonstrators in Canton, they reportedly
blocked the Haizhu Bridge for two days but dispersed without major
incident after stern warnings from the regional (Guangdong)
government. A report in The Globe and Mail, dated 06 June
1989, notes that besides blocking the five main bridges in Canton,
the demonstrations had brought the city to a standstill with people
refusing to work or attend classes. The article from The
Times further claims that about a dozen people were known to
have been detained, mostly unemployed labourers from the rural
areas. A shortwave broadcast by a Hong Kong source, monitored by
the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), reported on 14 June
1989 that a "combing out" movement is underway in Canton. "Combing
out" is a Communist Party order for all personnel in Party,
government and army organs, as well as in certain enterprises, to
state whether they had participated in or expressed support for the
demonstrations. For further details, please consult the attached
documentation.