Guangzhou protesters call for press freedom and end to censorship
Supporters of Guangzhou newspaper say they doubt the sincerity of party's new leadership in calling for more political reform
The area outside the Southern Weekly's headquarters in central Guangzhou turned into a people's square yesterday, with several hundred people staging a peaceful demonstration calling for an end to media censorship.
Protesters, mostly young men and women, laid flowers and banners outside the gates of the Nanfang Media Group's headquarters, gave speeches and joined in a brief chorus to protest against the Guangdong propaganda authorities' interference in the paper and measures to silence journalists and the public.
Some said that increasingly harsh censorship had become so intolerable that they had begun to doubt the sincerity of the Communist Party's new leadership in calling for more political reform.
Besides showing support for the Southern Weekly, protesters also called for the resignation of Guangdong propaganda chief Tuo Zhen , who has been accused of tightening media censorship since taking up his position in May, and who has been accused of being behind the interference in the newspaper's editorial operations.
One 29-year-old, who works as a trainer for salesmen in Guangzhou, said the incident showed that censorship had gone from bad to worse.
A 21-year-old college student who travelled from Zhanjiang to join the protest said she was afraid the muzzling of Southern Weekly would mean further erosion of freedom of speech.