More than 1,000 petitioners gathered outside the headquarters of China Central Television (CCTV) in downtown Beijing yesterday to air grievances about various issues, state media reported. Xinhua said police were deployed to disperse the petitioners and no clashes were reported. Overseas Chinese news website Boxun.com reported as many as 300 uniformed police officers and countless plain-clothes officers were sent to several subway stations near CCTV. Boxun said at least 1,000 petitioners were herded on to about 20 coaches by police as soon as they exited subway stations, and taken away. Yesterday was 'National Law Awareness Day', a date petitioners have used to travel to Beijing to voice their grievances. The petitioners came from various places including Hebei , Shanghai, Heilongjiang and Liaoning, and other provinces, according to Boxun.