Shanghai detains 132 for protesting against forcible clearance

SHANGHAI (AFP) - Shanghai police have detained 132 people protesting against the city's massive urban clearance projects, a human rights group said.

They were rounded up after they gathered outside the Shanghai municipal government offices Thursday, the US-based Human Rights in China (HRIC) said Friday, quoting sources.

The protest was the latest episode in a protracted dispute between officials and residents of several neighborhoods forcibly cleared for redevelopment.

HRIC said the protesters shouted slogans such as "SARS is frightening, but forced removal is even more frightening," and "SARS is terrible, but dictatorship is even more terrible."

After about 30 minutes, more than 200 Public Security Police sealed off the area, rounded up the protesters and loaded them into two buses.

Demonstrators who arrived later were dispersed.

HRIC said those arrested were sent to police stations in 14 different districts.
One protester, Zheng Wanfeng, managed to call his family on his mobile phone and told them not to expect him home any time soon.

None of those arrested had yet been released, nor had any of their family members been notified of their detention, HRIC added.

"We have no comment to make on this," an official at the Shanghai Public Security Bureau told AFP.
In an effort to contain the spread of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) major Chinese cities, including Shanghai, have been cancelling or restricting large public gatherings.

"It would be regrettable if the authorities were using public health as a mere pretext for stifling this protest," said HRIC president Liu Qing.

He urged Shanghai authorities "to use negotiation rather than detention and intimidation" to reach an acceptable resolution with families affected by urban clearance.

Last month, police arrested three people in Shanghai who were planning to petition authorities in Beijing for breach of property rights over the same issue.

Some community representatives traveled to Beijing in March to petition authorities over their grievances, but were rounded up by police shortly after their arrival and returned to Shanghai, HRIC said.