Post date: Jan 10, 2013 1:4:26 PM
Chinese plain clothes police forcibly clear anti-censorship protesters from the gates of southern Guangzhou's Southern Weekly headquarters one day after a newspaper strike ends.
GUANGZHOU CITY, GUANGDONG PROVINCE, CHINA (JANUARY 10, 2013) (ATV) - Plain clothes policemen carried anti-censorship protesters away from the front of a weekly Chinese newspaper on Thursday (January 10), the day when the latest issue appeared on newsstands following the end of a newsroom strike.
The strike at the Southern Weekly in the affluent southern Guangdong province came after censors watered down a page-two editorial in the New Year edition. Calls for Chinato enshrine constitutional rights were replaced with comments praising one-party rule.About six protesters were forcibly cleared from the gates of the paper by plainclothes officials, shouting as they were bundled into vehicles as dozens of uniformed police officers looked on.
The rare newsroom revolt at one of China's most respected and liberal papers hit a raw nerve nationwide, with calls for freedom of expression led by bloggers with millions of followers.
How the party responds to those calls will be a key indicator of new party leader Xi Jinping's reformist inclinations.
While the paper's appearance in newsstands suggested a tentative truce between Southern Weekly journalists and censorship authorities, the latest issue carried subtle signs of resistance.
Buried in the back pages was a call for reform.
Citing a Monday (January 7) editorial from the Communist Party mouthpiece, the People's Daily, an article headlined "we need to be able to follow the pace of our time" said the party's methods of controlling the media must move with the times.
In its interpretation of the editorial, the Southern Weekly said the remaining necessary reforms were as difficult as "gnawing at bones", adding that "they need the protection and support of a moderate, rational and constructive media."
The censorship turmoil has also spread to the capital.
Online accounts said Dai Zigeng, the publisher of the popular Beijing News daily, announced his resignation on Wednesday (January 9) after the newspaper resisted government pressure to republish an editorial criticising the Southern Weekly.