Activists, dissidents and petitioners ordered to steer clear of venue
As Shanghai raises the curtain on the World Expo today, dozens of activists, dissidents and petitioners will not be sharing the joy.
Uneasy that they would bring their grievances to the international gathering at the colossal expo venue, the authorities have detained, placed under surveillance, or warned many of them not to go near the site.
Prominent Shanghai rights activist Feng Zhenghu, who was stranded in Japan for eight months because he was barred from returning to China, has been summoned by police twice this week for causing 'disturbance'. On Monday, police raided his home, confiscated computer equipment and took him away for a four-hour interrogation.
Feng, who for years has sought to help petitioners and draw attention to the failures of the Shanghai judicial system, had planned to set up a 'Shanghai Expo of Unjust Court Cases' on the internet.
Feng said his front gate had been guarded by five security guards and policemen around the clock since early March. During his interrogation, police tried to intimidate him by showing him internet pictures of human rights lawyer Gao Zhisheng, who disappeared for months before resurfacing in March, and is now missing again.
'Their aim is to frighten people,' Feng said.
Authorities have also placed some Shanghai residents who lost their homes amid a rash of construction ahead of the expo - and other petitioners - under house arrest to stop them protesting. Over 18,000 families have been evicted in the city to make way for the expo since 2000.
Jin Yuehua who had been fighting over her home which was demolished to make way for an underground railway link to the expo site, has been put under house arrest since last Saturday.
'The police told me I wasn't allowed to go out or go anywhere near the expo,' said Jin, who has been repeatedly detained. 'Thanks to the expo, I have no rights and freedom now.'
Veteran Shanghai petitioner Ma Yalian has been detained in a city hostel and guarded by four people since Thursday.
'I think they're really paranoid. The Chinese government is very successful but their success is based on the abuse of people's rights,' Ma said by phone during her detention. 'So we don't welcome the expo.'
Rights lawyer Zheng Enchong , who has often been placed under house arrest since his release from prison in 2006, is also believed to be under heavy surveillance.
Meanwhile, the husband and three daughters of anti-abortion activist Mao Hengfeng have been pressured by police to leave Shanghai for three days during the expo opening, her husband Wu Xuewei said.
Mao was sentenced to 18 months of the administrative confinement of 're-education through labour' in March.
In Hangzhou, about a dozen activists have been warned by police against travelling to Shanghai during the expo period.
'Many of us have received warnings: I was invited by police for 'tea' today and will have to go again tomorrow,' said activist Zou Wei . Meanwhile, rights group Chinese Human Rights Defenders has documented six cases of Shanghai petitioners who have been sent to 're-education through labour' since January for reasons the group believes are related to the World Expo.
Several activists in Beijing, including law professor Teng Biao and Aids campaigner Wan Yanhai , have been recently asked by police whether they planned to go to Shanghai, they said.
'Chinese authorities are again taking extreme steps to ensure that Shanghai activists don't protest, don't interact with visitors or speak with journalists during World Expo,' said Roseann Rife, of Amnesty International.
'The construction of the expo and other new developments in Shanghai cannot hide the ill-treatment of those who were forcibly evicted.'
