BEIJING – China’s state media on Saturday warned citizens to ignore calls for weekend anti-government rallies in major cities, saying that similar protests across the Middle East had created “chaos”. The message – carried by the Beijing Daily, a mouthpiece of the city government – came as Premier Wen Jiabao noted the public’s “great resentment” over a number of issues in his speech to open the annual parliamentary session.
Authorities in China have shown increasing nervousness about the Internet’s power to mobilise ordinary citizens in the wake of unrest in the Arab world, and the subsequent online call for anti-government “Jasmine” rallies at home.
“This turmoil has brought a massive calamity to the people of these countries,” the Beijing Daily said in a commentary. “It is worth noting that at home and abroad some people with ulterior motives are trying to draw this chaos into China. They have used the Internet to incite illegal gatherings,” it said. Citizens have been urged to gather for subtle “strolling” demonstrations – but take no overt protest action – each Sunday afternoon at designated locations in cities across China to highlight public anger with the government.
The anonymous campaigners behind the so-called “Jasmine rallies” have said their movement has support in dozens of cities, though security have turned out in force at the rally sites in Beijing and Shanghai to prevent such gatherings. On February 27, several foreign journalists were roughed up in a popular shopping area of Beijing, and police have since threatened reporters that they could lose their permission to work in China unless they follow new rules.
As the United States, the European Union and rights groups have criticised the treatment of foreign journalists and called for an explanation, state media on Thursday accused those same reporters of “fabricating news”.
The Beijing Daily urged citizens to “conscientiously protect harmony and stability” rather than allow a small group of people both at home and abroad to “exploit the problems existing in our development to provoke trouble”. “Everyone knows that stability is a blessing and chaos is a calamity,” the newspaper said.
