China launches ‘unusually harsh’ crackdown

AS CHINA’S ruling Communist Party held its most important conclave in five years, the government has launched an unusually harsh crackdown on potential troublemakers, say Chinese and international human rights groups.

Hundreds of petitioners, democracy activists and human rights workers have been abducted, imprisoned, or confined to their homes over the past six weeks, according to rights monitors. “This seems to be the worst in years,” says Phelim Kine, a Hong Kong-based researcher with Human Rights Watch. “It is much, much more comprehensive than earlier sweeps.”

As delegates to the ruling Communist Party listen to their leaders’ speeches at their 17th Congress, at least one voice will not be heard: Yu Tongan, a peasant farmer in southern China.