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Thousands of Chinese Army Veterans March Over Police Beatings
Radio Free Asia ^ | 2018-10-08 | Wong Siu-san and Lau Siu-fung

Posted on 10/09/2018 10:25:47 PM PDT by Zhang Fei

Authorities in the eastern Chinese province of Shandong have sealed off a city after thousands of People's Liberation Army (PLA) veterans converged there over a weekend of protests and clashes over police beatings of their former comrades-in-arms, local activists and residents told RFA on Monday.

Video footage of the protests showed police in full riot gear backing off in the face of elderly men in camouflage gear wielding wooden sticks during the protests in Shandong's Pingdu city on Sunday.

Police were also seen walking alongside a long line of marchers carrying banners from different parts of China and the hammer and sickle of the ruling Chinese Communist Party.

Police beat up a number of protesters, sources told RFA, providing footage of several elderly veterans lying on gurneys at a hospital in Pingdu, one with a broken arm, according to the veteran who filmed it.

In the video, a man is heard telling healthcare staff that he has no money to pay for treatment, and that the government should pay, because they were beaten by police.

A Chinese journalist at the scene told RFA that clashes between veterans and police had started on Saturday and continued into the early hours of Sunday morning until police were ordered to withdraw for fear of sparking mass riots.

"They were all still there at two, three in the morning," the journalist, who gave only his surname Lin, told RFA. "Finally, the police withdrew--there was a report online that said an order had come through from police headquarters not to use violence."

"Instead they surrounded the protesters and cordoned them off ... By [Sunday] morning they were arriving from all over China," Lin said. "They are still coming now. I'm not sure exactly how many there are, but their numbers are probably in the thousands."

(Excerpt) Read more at rfa.org ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Extended News; Foreign Affairs; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: china; maga; trump
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1 posted on 10/09/2018 10:25:47 PM PDT by Zhang Fei
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To: Zhang Fei

I assume police chiefs are vetted and it is made certain that they are sympathetic to the govt.

That must get kind of difficult having to vet all the way down the trough.


2 posted on 10/09/2018 10:29:18 PM PDT by dp0622 (The Left should know if Trump is kicked out of office, it is WAR!)
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To: dp0622

And in a government system where integrity suffers, who knows who’s telling the truth? I don’t understand how communism gets along with Confucianism, let alone Christianity.


3 posted on 10/09/2018 10:53:09 PM PDT by HiTech RedNeck (Tryin' hard to win the No-Bull Prize.)
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To: dp0622

[I assume police chiefs are vetted and it is made certain that they are sympathetic to the govt.

That must get kind of difficult having to vet all the way down the trough.]


It’s a balancing act. A lot of high level provincial officials are transferred in from other provinces, and it’s not usual for provincial level officials to serve in their home province. The objective was to reduce the likelihood of separatism, something that infected almost all European holdings in the Americas. This isn’t so much a party thing as a remnant from the days when China had de jure emperors rather than just the de facto emperors of today. At the same time, the locals below them not only have local knowledge, they also have local prestige.

In times of trouble, when the ruling family’s fate hung in the balance, it wasn’t uncommon for sub-provincial local officials to decapitate the provincial governors sent from the capital and raise the flag of insurrection. They might be servile in appearance, but many are really just biding their time.


4 posted on 10/09/2018 10:53:56 PM PDT by Zhang Fei (They can have my pitbull when they pry his cold dead jaws off my ass.)
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To: dp0622

A revolution please.


5 posted on 10/09/2018 10:53:59 PM PDT by CondoleezzaProtege
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To: CondoleezzaProtege

A revived Confucianism - Christianity axis might be able to power such a thing. Their ethics of social love are similar to a point, and when a state becomes stinky enough, a revolution can ensue. I chuckle at those old guys, with nothing to lose, beating back the cruel riot cops!


6 posted on 10/09/2018 10:59:44 PM PDT by HiTech RedNeck (Tryin' hard to win the No-Bull Prize.)
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>> “Finally, the police withdrew—there was a report online that said an order had come through from police headquarters not to use violence.”

The Chinese are pretty good about contemplating situations. Too bad they (generally speaking) tend to disregard Faith.


7 posted on 10/09/2018 11:04:32 PM PDT by Gene Eric (Don't be a statist!)
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To: HiTech RedNeck

Lets hope!


8 posted on 10/09/2018 11:06:27 PM PDT by CondoleezzaProtege
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To: Zhang Fei

Can this unrest be related to Trump turning the economic screws as he did with Iran? I HOPE SO WITH MORE TO COME.


9 posted on 10/09/2018 11:08:03 PM PDT by ZULU (MAGA)
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To: ZULU

Without a generous subsidy, communism eventually falls flat.


10 posted on 10/09/2018 11:11:36 PM PDT by HiTech RedNeck (Tryin' hard to win the No-Bull Prize.)
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To: Gene Eric

[>> “Finally, the police withdrew—there was a report online that said an order had come through from police headquarters not to use violence.”

The Chinese are pretty good about contemplating situations. Too bad they (generally speaking) tend to disregard Faith.]


In China, the PLA is a law unto its own. It doesn’t have to follow parking regulations, PLA soldiers can’t be arrested by cops, and so on. In this respect, it is like a lot of Third World countries. Cops try not to get into shoving matches with a uniformed service possessed of a lot more firepower. Now, these were just retired army vets demonstrating, but any escalation could have led to an unpredictable series of events pulling in PLA units in defense of the retired comrades, empowering ambitious power seekers within the party to make their bid against the incumbent ruler.


11 posted on 10/09/2018 11:19:21 PM PDT by Zhang Fei (They can have my pitbull when they pry his cold dead jaws off my ass.)
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To: AdmSmith; AnonymousConservative; Arthur Wildfire! March; Berosus; Bockscar; cardinal4; ColdOne; ...
Police beat up a number of protesters, sources told RFA, providing footage of several elderly veterans lying on gurneys at a hospital in Pingdu, one with a broken arm, according to the veteran who filmed it. In the video, a man is heard telling healthcare staff that he has no money to pay for treatment, and that the government should pay, because they were beaten by police.
Wow, wth. Thanks Zhang Fei.

12 posted on 10/09/2018 11:48:22 PM PDT by SunkenCiv (and btw -- https://www.gofundme.com/for-rotator-cuff-repair-surgery)
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To: Zhang Fei

Interesting consequences especially with the looming trade war.


13 posted on 10/09/2018 11:52:14 PM PDT by Gene Eric (Don't be a statist!)
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To: Zhang Fei

Reds versus Reds. Let them kill each other, esp. the veterans of the Korean War and Vietnam. Revenge is sweet when it is delivered by our enemies on their own.

Please the egg rolls, please!


14 posted on 10/10/2018 12:01:18 AM PDT by MadMax, the Grinning Reaper
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To: MadMax, the Grinning Reaper

[Reds versus Reds. Let them kill each other, esp. the veterans of the Korean War and Vietnam. Revenge is sweet when it is delivered by our enemies on their own.

Please the egg rolls, please!]


From your lips to God’s ear.


15 posted on 10/10/2018 12:11:56 AM PDT by Zhang Fei (They can have my pitbull when they pry his cold dead jaws off my ass.)
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To: Zhang Fei

As soon as the WuJing get there, it’s over. (CCCP Secret Police, armed). Yeah, the same units that put down all those protesters in 1989.


16 posted on 10/10/2018 1:02:00 AM PDT by datura
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To: datura

[As soon as the WuJing get there, it’s over. (CCCP Secret Police, armed). Yeah, the same units that put down all those protesters in 1989.]


Regular army units were used at Tiananmen Square.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tiananmen_Square_protests_of_1989#June_3%E2%80%934:_clearing_the_square

The People’s Armed Police are basically the equivalent of Soviet Interior Ministry MVD units. They are a combo of coup insurance (in case an army honcho gets ideas and somehow manages to corral enough support from other army chiefs to make a bid for power) and riot control.


17 posted on 10/10/2018 1:15:19 AM PDT by Zhang Fei (They can have my pitbull when they pry his cold dead jaws off my ass.)
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To: Zhang Fei

China is revamping its military and getting rid of many military men in exchange for a fully professional force. This has put many out of work and angry.


18 posted on 10/10/2018 1:52:16 AM PDT by JudgemAll (Democrats Fed. job-security Whorocracy & hate:hypocrites must be gay like us or be tested/crucified)
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To: Zhang Fei

Hmm... they mainly employed specially chosen units of illiterate thugs who were dependent and savage, upon advice of Soviets, because they thought the Police and National Guard units were not tough enough on the students. The result is these units of illiterates started shooting at the students, police and guard units.


19 posted on 10/10/2018 1:54:20 AM PDT by JudgemAll (Democrats Fed. job-security Whorocracy & hate:hypocrites must be gay like us or be tested/crucified)
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To: Zhang Fei

Soon as it gets to the point of making Panda-Face (Xi) loss face, he’ll bring in the mountain troops as one of his predecessors did and repeat Tiananmen square ...


20 posted on 10/10/2018 3:56:35 AM PDT by PIF (They came for me and mine ... now it is your turn ...)
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