Report: unrest in China a sign of democracy

Picture credit: http://www.sojo.net
Hong Kong newspapers are reporting that growing civil unrest in rural areas of China may signal public awareness of democratic rights. Reports in the South China Morning Post indicate that thousands of farmers surrounded a police station in Sanshangang township over the weekend. The farmers demanded the release of arrestees who had protested the government's recent land grabs.

Thank goodness for the speeches of Ted Kennedy and Howard Dean, which are certain to have inspired freedom-seekers all over the world.

A senior Chinese official said increasing unrest in rural China was the result of growing public awareness about democratic rights, a Hong Kong newspaper reported Monday... ...In early June, six people were killed and up to 50 were injured after some 200 thugs were hired to beat up farmers in a village in Hebei province for refusing to comply with government eviction orders. Although reports of the unrest have garnered international attention, Chen said many other protests had gone unreported. "There are at least three million villages across the country and you can imagine how many problems crop up each day," he told the paper.

Philippine Daily Inquirer: Growing rural unrest in China a sign of democracy