Over the next two weeks, I will be posting quite a number of “China” stories from the past six months. My purpose is to remind us—after what I saw as a disappointing Olympic decision to allow China to serve as a host country—of what kind of country Communist China is.
Some 100 participants took park in the demonstration in Berlin which couldn’t take place directly at the embassy due to police barriers. They held up banners with Chinese characters written on them, expressing their hope for improvement of human rights.
Protestors in Berlin wanted to highlight the mass arrests and persecution of Tibetan groups, Uighurs and Falun Gong members
The protestors also took lit torches, emblazoned with the Olympic rings, and put them out in giant tubs of water. With this symbolic gesture, the demonstrators wanted to make clear that Beijing has failed to honor the promises made leading up to the games to better human rights in the country.
According to human rights organizations, more than 1,000 Tibetan were taken into custody during the unrest and mass arrests in March 2008 and are still missing.
More than 1,500 Uighurs have been arrested in recent weeks for political reasons, and members of the Falun Gong sects have been victims of torture and murder. 3,160 of them have meet grisly deaths while in the custody of the security forces, they say.
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