China plugs pro-democracy bid in Shanghai

The applications are the first since the Communist Party came to power in 1949, and were at first met with apparent tolerance in many parts of the nation.

While activists in Zhejiang, the first province to apply, were initially detained, they have all since been released and their application isstill pending. Authorities in Hubei and Shandong provinces have even indicated that applications there could be accepted if four simple conditions were fulfiled. But a slow roundup of critics involved with the CDP in recent days has resulted in detentions in eastern Shandong, Shanghai, Beijing, and northeastern Jilin. On Thursday, activists in Beijing were prevented from filing their CDP application while a labour activist from Jilin province was arrested on Friday and charged with “making contacts with illegal organisations.”

Tang Yuanjuan’s charges referred to his meeting with a number of government critics from around the country about registering the CDP.

Activist Liu Lianjun was also detained Friday in Shandong province after he helped prepare an application to set up a CDP branch there. But the first direct refusal to accept the CDP came from Shanghai. “The Shanghai police said that our ideas were not realistic and that they were saving us because we were at the edge of a precipice,” said Han.“They warned us that we would be fully responsible if anything else happened, and said they would not agree to register the CDP even if we made 100 applications,” he added.Veteran activist Qin Yongmin, who is involved in a CDP application in central Hubei province, said the Shanghai reaction was ominous. “Shanghai is a very dangerous signal for us and we must pay great attention to it,” Qin said.

“I hope the arrival next week of French Prime Minister (Lionel) Jospin will prevent the authorities from launching a very heavy crackdown,” he said. Police have not yet started a concerted crackdown in Hubei, Liaoning, Heilongjiang or Zhejiang provinces.