Protests Sprinkled Across Tiananmen

BEIJING â€”  Even as hundreds of thousands of demonstrators marched peacefully in Hong Kong on Thursday, at least 30 protesters were detained by police in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square for holding banners, kneeling before the national flag and handing out leaflets accusing the government of injustice.

“Our goal is to warn the central government to listen to people’s problems, to awake the society, even if it costs us our lives, and to echo the huge outpouring seen in Hong Kong,� said Li Guozhu, 48, a former police officer from Heilongjiang province who said he lost his job after revealing a local corruption scandal.

“Unfortunately, today’s actions don’t achieve anything,� he added wearily. “And it probably has no influence at all.�

Beijing’s lack of tolerance for protest was on display at the square. In a somewhat surreal scene, several hundred stealth demonstrators mingled with kite fliers, giggling schoolgirls, tour groups and picnickers. Most of the protesters were cautious about revealing themselves, given the swarm of vigilant uniformed and plainclothes police.

As well as being the seventh anniversary of Hong Kong’s hand-over to China, Thursday was the 83rd anniversary of the founding of the Chinese Communist Party in a part of the world where milestones often affect the timing of demonstrations.

The protesters scotched their plan to sing the national anthem in unison as too risky. Throughout the morning, however, a few furtive demonstrators at a time revealed themselves by shouting something about injustice or otherwise attracting attention, only to be descended upon by security officers.

In one such incident, 10 people -- including an older woman with a tall white hat of the type sometimes worn to funerals and a disabled middle-aged man on crutches -- were hauled into a police van after attempting to distribute leaflets.

It wasn’t clear what was printed in the leaflets.

In another incident, a disabled man climbed over the rope that fences off the Chinese flag, threw his crutches aside and lay down as his wife dropped to her knees near him. Fellow protesters said the couple’s home had been demolished and the man’s legs broken because he refused to pay bribes to local officials.

Police rushed the couple away. A young man who apparently took a picture of the incident with his cellphone had the mobile unit seized.

At the base of a street lamp near the northeast corner of the square, several men and women sat surrounded by ratty plastic bags. An organizer among them said there were 300 protesters in the area early Thursday. They included some whose houses were demolished by the government without compensation and others whose relatives were killed under mysterious circumstances without any official investigation, said the organizer, who requested anonymity.

A new element in recent demonstrations has been a greater willingness to refer to human rights, analysts say. The term recently was added to the Chinese Constitution.

At one point during the morning, two plainclothes security officials tried to drag away a gray-haired man dressed in a tattered jacket. Six or seven fellow demonstrators jumped to his rescue.

“You are not a policeman!� members of the group shouted at the officials. “You have no right to take him away. Show us your police ID! You’re violating our human rights.�

Faced with the outcry and the fact that the man hadn’t made any sort of protest gesture, the officials let him go.

For the most part, however, those who seemed even the least bit suspicious were hauled off.

“The system for addressing wrongs isn’t working in China today,� said Li, the former police officer. “Many who complain are beaten. For many common people these days, there’s little hope.�