The clampdown of citizens who flock to China’s capital and seek justice for widespread frustration has intensified over the past two weeks.
Ahead of the 20th anniversary of China’s petition system, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) escalated its efforts to intercept petitioners who arrived in Beijing.
Activists said dozens of Chinese people flocked to the police-detained Chinese capital for the past two weeks, seeking justice for justice for wider complaints.
The Chinese administration established a petition system decades ago, inviting citizens to directly address the issues and injustice caused by local officials. Many people across the country travel to Beijing to file petitions, especially before large political meetings and anniversary. In these times, more officials will gather in the capital, and petitioners believe that it is likely that they will hear and correct their complaints by someone of authority.
One of the latest petitioners to be targeted is Guoping, a retired university lecturer in Shanghai. Gu was traveling to Beijing to file a complaint regarding previous illegal detention, along with five other petitioners filed separate complaints.
“Our demand is that China’s communist government honors international treaties, respects the human rights of Chinese citizens and resolves long ignored complaints from victims of rights violations,” Gugu told the Epoch Times.
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China announced regulations regarding letters and visits (“Petition Regulations”) in January 2005, and came into effect on May 1st of that year. Bureaus and offices have been set up at various levels of government as a substitute for formal Chinese legal channels, for the Chinese citizens to try to correct their complaints. These Chinese citizens are called “pedes” of China.
Beijing is holding a central office for letters and visits to petitioners file complaints for justice.
Their efforts often encounter violence, and many await themselves being sent back to their homeland.
Police and checkpoints all over Beijing
Gu told the Epoch Times on April 30 that he was kicked out without explanation, well before the official closure time of 5pm when he arrived in Beijing around 3:40pm on April 27th.
The next day, the GU and the group gathered near Lixue Hutong, near Zhongnanhai, an office compound that houses the CCP’s top government and party institutions.
Gu said there are many police officers nearby Zhongnanhai. Police stopped them, checked their IDs and put them all in a bus that took them to Jiu Jing Zhuang, a compound in a residential area southwest of Beijing. The buildings on the residential grounds are used as detention facilities for petitioners from across the country who have come to Beijing.
Gu has been petitioning for relief for loss of family property since 2001. Gu, a university lecturer at the time, forced to destroy the homes and assets of his entire extended family, spanning four households and nine people, without legal proceedings. He and his family have not yet received compensation or resettlement.
Another group of four petitioners from Shanghai took a bus to Zhongnanhai on April 28th. The bus stopped to police when it still stopped three times from the central government compound. Passengers with large luggage or backpacks were considered petitioners by the police and were forced to send to Ju Jin Zhuang.
Petitioners will be intercepted at Langfan’s checkpoint on April 26, 2025. Provided by interviewees
“There were so many petitioners in Jiu Jitsu Zhuang. They had to open a new building to embrace everyone,” said the Shanghai petitioner who wanted to continue anonymous for fear of retaliation. “Some people are sent home tomorrow, while others are sent home the next day.”
Shanghai petitioners will be forced to escort to Shanghai on April 29, 2025 by train. Provided by interviewees
The Chonging petitioner was intercepted in late April by police from various areas of Beijing.
On April 26th, his Fanlong and Yangzhou, veterans of Chungin, were stopped at Beijing Railway Station. They were identified as petitioners when applying for a transit card using their ID card. They were later held at the Qianmen bus stop police station.
The Epoch Times attempted to contact him by phone after receiving the SOS message, but failed.
“Black prisons” and mental prisons
Jiu Jing Zhuang is one of Beijing’s detention centres to keep petitioners. The Chinese Human Rights Defenders (CHRD) have called illegal facilities because they “have completely operated outside of China’s judicial system” and “has no legal basis for Chinese law.”
In a 2008 report, Chrd found three detention facilities in Fengtai, a district in southwestern Beijing. The organization reported four more such facilities in Beijing, as well as more in other parts of China.
Human rights groups say violent interception and detention of petitioners is usually carried out by state authorities “under the eyes of police and often with active cooperation.” Detainees can be subject to assault and can be “confined for months, months without charge, trial or access to a lawyer.”
The CHRD denounces such state-sanctioned “black prisons” and “become increasingly broad and systematic.”
Epoch Times cannot confirm whether the facilities reported by the CHRD are still up and running. The Epoch Times reached out to Jujinzuan and did not receive a reply upon publication.
“The victims have been locked up for days, weeks, months or years, some have been there for over a decade,” SD wrote in the 2022 report, adding that the majority of these victims are petitioners, some have been “returned repeatedly and sent back dozens or more.”
Petition System “Massive Fraud and Trap”: Petitioner
The GU has condemned the CCP’s petition regulations as “a system designed to hide the lack of legitimacy of CCPs,” and “violates the spirit and core principles of international law and treaty.”
“At its core, the petition system is massive fraud and traps,” he said in a phone interview with the Epoch Times on April 30.
“The petition system forces you to return to your hometown to resolve the issue. Local authorities often create illegal cases against you. You are told by your abuser to seek justice. The outcome is the opposite of resolution.
“We believe that the very creation of petition regulation is unfair, unjust, illegal, isolated from public opinion and social reality, and ultimately unable to address the underlying issues. This is a harmful system.”
Li Xi and Dorothy Li contributed to this report.
