Bo Xilai's trial becomes magnet for protesters

[ 时间:2013-08-21 18:23:59 | 作者:alcolm Moore, Jinan | 来源:Telegraph ]

Travelling in small groups and keeping a low profile to avoid the authorities, protesters from across China have converged on the eastern city of Jinan for the trial of Bo Xilai.

China's former Chongqing Municipality Communist Party Secretary Bo Xilai  Photo: REUTERS

Police detain an elderly demonstrator who was protesting against the Chinese justice system on 21 August 2013 outside the Intermediate People's Court in Jinan, Shandong Province where disgraced politician Bo Xilai will soon go on trial Photo: AFP

By Malcolm Moore, Jinan10:23AM BST 21 Aug 2013

As China launches its biggest political trial in decades on Thursday, the protesters hope they will be able to break through two lines of police in order to voice their grievances in front of Jinan's imposing courthouse.

"Lots of us are coming from all over China," said Wu Guizhen, a 58-year-old woman from Beijing who was arrested by the police near the court on Wednesday.

"We are here to see whether Bo Xilai is given a fair trial. The government is immoral, there is no rule of law and no justice," she added.

But while Mrs Wu and her fellow protesters support Mr Bo, they were also hoping to draw the attention of journalists clustered behind plastic barriers outside the court to their own problems.

"My house was demolished in 1993 and they promised me compensation but I have not had any money," said Mrs Wu. "They said I would get two houses in return but they only gave me one.

"One of my friends who is here with me has been petitioning for justice for more than 30 years after her husband was beaten to death."

More than 40 protesters from at least six different provinces have so far arrived in Jinan, according to Huang Qi, the founder of Skynet, a website that logs petitions against the government.

He added that the police had managed to intercept 20 people and return them home.

On Wednesday morning, the eve of the trial, around ten protesters held up signs outside the courthouse calling for a fair trial.

"When comrade Bo Xilai was put under house arrest, it was a violation of the party charter and when he was handed over to the justice system it was a violation of the constitution," said a protester from Chongqing surnamed Li to Reuters. "This trial is illegal. We don't believe in any outcome of this trial."

The chutzpah of the protesters is a sign of the political support that Mr Bo continues to enjoy, making his trial tricky for the government to manage.

While the government has said the trial will be "open", there will be no access for Western journalists. A court spokesman added that there were no plans to provide a live television feed or to live tweet the event on Sina Weibo, China's version of Twitter.

Additional reporting by Adam Wu