Dictatorship in Massive Crackdown as Human Rights Deteriorates but Chinese Democracy Inevitable

Democracy, elections, and voting at Democracy Chronicles

Democratic reform irreversible in China: Chen

Chen Guangcheng, the blind Chinese activist whose flight to the US embassy in Beijing sparked a major diplomatic incident, said Thursday that democratic change in China is slow, but irreversible. “I’m very optimistic,” Chen said. “Nobody can stop the process of history, whether it’s the central government China clamps down ahead of Tiananmen anniversary”. Chinese police began clamping down on dissent and activists kicked off their annual campaigns Thursday ahead of the 23rd anniversary of the brutal crackdown on the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests. People’s Liberation Army soldiers stormed into central Beijing on June 3-4, 1989, firing upon unarmed demonstrators.

China ‘detains hundreds’ in Tibet capital. Hundreds of people have been detained in Lhasa after two men set themselves on fire in the Tibetan regional capital, a US-based broadcaster said, as a young mother became the latest Tibetan to self-immolate. Radio Free Asia said Chinese security forces had rounded up hundreds of residents and pilgrims.