Crackdown on Dissent Persists On 26th Anniversary
(New York) – The Chinese government should finally acknowledge and take
responsibility for the massacre of pro-democracy demonstrators in June
1989, Human Rights Watch said today. Authorities should release
activists jailed for commemorating the occasion along with all others
imprisoned in China for the peaceful exercising of their political views.
“Twenty-six years ago, the Chinese government decided that violent
repression was the appropriate response to peaceful protest,” said Sophie Richardson,
China director. “Until the government acknowledges its actions and
provides redress to the many victims and their families, there is no
safeguard that future protests won’t provoke a similar reaction.”
Beijing’s recent arbitrary detentions and prosecutions of 1989 protest
veterans epitomize a severe new crackdown on dissent over the past two
years.
