BEIJING is concerned that elderly people from the provinces may stage protests in the capital during next week's National People's Congress to air grievances over low wages and war reparations.
A Beijing-based war reparations campaigner, Tong Zeng, said yesterday he had been told to keep away from the elderly protesters.
'The central authorities are having a headache over those discontented old people,' said Mr Tong who is also a researcher with the China Research Centre on Ageing.
He said he had been approached by some elderly people for help over living difficulties in the past.
'Some elderly cadres find it hard to live on just 400 to 500 yuan (HK$372-465) a month while inflation is high,' he said.
'Beijing worries that such elderly people will come to me. The authorities have asked me not to collaborate with them.' In December, about 1,000 elderly people took to the streets of Wuhan, Hubei province, for a three-hour protest against inflation.
And there were also reports in the past year that some retired people in northeastern China staged peaceful protests outside government offices.