Rain Dampens Demonstration : Beijing Student Rally Protests Police Tactics

Thousands of Beijing University students staged a mid-day campus rally Thursday condemning pre-dawn police action against an overnight protest.

About 3,000 students, marching behind a banner proclaiming “Peaceful Petition,” then left the suburban Beijing campus for the city’s central Tian An Men Square.

But a cold rain began, continuing through the evening, and many gave up the march. Only about 1,500 people showed up at late afternoon and evening gatherings in the square.

Those who braved the rain met at the Monument to the People’s Heroes, in the middle of the square, for speeches about democracy. There was no repeat, however, of dramatic anti-government protests of the previous two evenings in which large crowds marched from the square to the nearby headquarters of the Communist Party and the Chinese government.

Heavens Side With Regime

“Heaven must be on the side of the Communist Party,” a drenched student said during the downpour, unusual for this time of year in Beijing.

Thousands of police cleared about 5,000 student protesters from outside the gate of Zhongnanhai, the central office and residential compound for China’s top leaders, during the early morning hours Thursday. Foreign journalists saw a few protesters slapped, beaten or kicked by police.

Chinese students later said that as many as 200 were struck during the police action, with about 30 students suffering injuries. It was unclear to what degree clashes may have occurred between small groups of students and police in side streets after the main demonstration on Beijing’s central boulevard was dispersed.

Beijing authorities intensified their warnings to demonstrators Thursday, declaring in a statement publicized by print and television that those who continue to protest will be “dealt with severely according to law.”

Demand for Liberalization

The death last Saturday of Hu Yaobang, 73, the reformist former head of the Communist Party, touched off the current wave of protests. While initially billed as memorial activities for Hu, who died after a heart attack, the student protests have progressed into broad demands for political liberalization.

The Beijing city government’s warning attacked the protesters partly on this basis.

“A small number of people with ulterior motives have taken advantage of the mourning activities and spread rumors, poisoned people’s minds and put up posters attacking and abusing party and government leaders . . . (and) raised unreasonable demands that have no connection to commemorations,” the warning said. Further disturbances “absolutely will not be allowed,” it added.

Protests in Other Cities

According to information reaching foreign correspondents in Beijing, protest marches have also broken out this week in at least five other Chinese cities: Shanghai, Tianjin, Nanjing, Wuhan and Hefei. It appears, however, that the scale of demonstrations elsewhere has not matched that of the protests in Beijing.

A wave of pro-democracy student protests in late 1986 and early 1987 prompted a conservative backlash that led to the ouster of Hu from his post as general secretary of the Communist Party. What effect, if any, the current protests might have on the top levels of government is not yet clear.

An official memorial ceremony for Hu will be held Saturday morning at the Great Hall of the People, which faces Tian An Men Square. It is widely expected that despite the official warnings, daily student protests will continue at least until then.