Beijingers Protest Olympic Evictions

About 20 Demonstrate Near Tiananmen Square, Houses Demolished To Beautify City

(CBS/AP)  About 20 people angry about being evicted from their homes in central Beijing demonstrated Monday not far from Tiananmen Square, saying the Olympics should not curb their legal rights.

Uniformed police quickly surrounded the residential street where the group was shouting about being kicked out of their homes and not getting proper compensation. The protesters had been evicted as early as 2003.

"We don't oppose the Olympics. But it's wrong for them to demolish our house. It's wrong," said protester Liu Fumei, who scuffled with women in civilian clothes who were trying to force her from the area.

The police officers did not interfere, but women who said they were members of a neighborhood committee pushed and led the protesters away from the area. Neighborhood committees are not officially part of the government but work closely with police and other departments.

CBS News reporter Celia Hatton says an estimated 1.5 million people have seen their homes simply disappear in Beijing, as authorities rush to spit-shine the image of the capital city.

A woman named Yu Ping, who's family lived in their Beijing house for 60 years, running a small store in front, was evicted recently. Hatton reports the police insisted on tearing it down, arguing it blemished the Olympic torch route.

Yu says she and her 13 relatives who lived in the home will now have nowhere to go.

China is sensitive to any public criticism of the Beijing Olympics, which begin Friday, and has stationed security agents throughout the city to watch for signs of unrest. Demonstrations in and near Tiananmen Square are rare and generally stopped quickly by police.

It was not clear where the protesters were taken, and whether they were detained. A duty officer in the Beijing police news office said he did not know what happened to them.

A large crowd of onlookers gathered to watch the protest in the historic Qianmen district just south of Tiananmen Square, one of Beijing's most famous landmarks where large pro-democracy protests were held in 1989. Authorities cracked down hard on those protesters.

Monday's demonstrators were unhappy about being evicted from their former homes in the area to make way for redevelopment. The area is being rebuilt into a commercial strip with businesses such as Nike, Starbucks and Rolex, and it is scheduled to open on Thursday.

"Developers shouldn't use the Olympics to take our homes. And we cannot stop protecting our rights because of the Olympics," protester Ma Xiulan said.

Beijing carried out a $40 billion makeover in preparation for the Olympics, and many older homes were razed as part of the modernization campaign.

The protesters' complaints are not unique. Residents who are displaced to make way for new development without being paid enough compensation to buy new homes have protested in cities throughout the country.

Meanwhile, two men rammed a dump truck into a group of jogging policemen and then tossed explosives into their barracks Monday, killing 16 officers in a restive Chinese province bordering Central Asia, the state-run Xinhua News Agency reported.

[jlmcscanner]

But the US economy is three times and large and our military outclasses yours in every way.Your country is older and has a massive population which means you just have 1 billion living on poverty instead of a few million like us.China has been around 5000yrs but has achieved less than we have in 200yrs.


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well,i think America is the no.1 around world.But your 2 Hundred years mind could not understand five
thousand years spiritual meaning.huh


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Posted by beijing3000 at 04:55 AM : Aug 05, 2008

five thousand years spiritual meaning ??? The Chinese are COMMUNISTS... how spritual is that ??? 5000yrs and the best they can do is communism ???

[tootall10142]

I HOPE THE EARTH QUAKES BRING THE ENTIRE COUNTRY OF CHINA TO ITS F----KING KNEES AND HALTS THE OLYMPICS FROM PROCEEDING IN THIS NON HUMAN RIGHTS COUNTRY.I HAVE STOPPED ALL SUPPORT OF THE OLYMPICS AND THIER SPONSORS I DONT BUY ANYTHING FROM THE AMERICAN CORPS THAT SPONSOR THEM OR FORIEGN PRODUCTS OF ANY KIND ,I STILL HAVE THE BALLS TO PLAY A COUPLE EXTA DOLLARS AND KEEP IT IN AMERICA WHERE IT BELONGS.IF I THOUGHT VOO-DOO WAS REAL I WOULD HIRE A PRIESTESS TO PUT A CURSE ON CHINA AFTER WE GOT ALL THE ILLEGALS THER H-LL OUT OUR COUNTRY.FLUUUUCK EM AND FEED THEM GUTS FROM THIER DYIND RELATIVES.

[minnick8-2009]

She has a far better life now in the USA than she ever did in the old USSR.

Posted by cheetah-man7

I hope she is doing well. I betcha if we asked her, she would tell us that the Olympic Gold fades and there are other things in life that take precedence.

[cheetah-man7]

minnick8

___________________

The gymnast you are thinking of is Olga Korbut from Russia. She finally got to the US and now lives in Georgia. She has a far better life now in the USA than she ever did in the old USSR.

[cheetah-man7]

I am not at all surprised to read this story. I have been to China and while there are some beautiful sights, there are also plenty of sights they don''t want you to see. I don''t trust the Chinese and think the government there is far more corrupt than anything we can blame Bush for (and let''s face it, that is a LOT!). I find it hard to believe that the IOC even awarded the 2008 games to Beijing. China is horrible!

[minnick8-2009]

The protesters had been evicted as early as 2003.

The protesters had been evicted as early as 2003? And in five years they hadn''t been able to make other living arrangements? That''s amazing. I can''t figure out why the Olympic Committee agreed to let China host the Olympics. I will be surprised if it doesn''t turn into some kind of terroristic fiasco.

[minnick8-2009]

i think our chinese athletes will kick america athletes butt, . . . something will show you man.

Posted by beijing3000

Well la te da! I remember back in 1972 when a little Romanian gal dazzled everyone in gymnastics. I can''t remember her name. I was so jealous of her; I was 21 and thought she had it all. Now I''m almost 60 and guess what? She is in her mid 50''s too. I read about her 15 years after the Olympics, and she was a washed up housewife suffering from depression because her country had no need of her anymore and she had been put out to pasture--so to speak.

The bottom line here is that the Olympics are not the do all, be all, end all of life. So, have your day in the sun, and gloat over your wins, and in the grand scheme of life, and the grand scheme of the Olympics, it is a grain of sand on the sea shore.

[wellhell3]

Never occurred to China did it, to invest a little of the billions they''ll be making off the olympics into these folks home and help them improve their living conditions? Never occurred to any of their neighbors to help them either?

[beijing3000]

But the US economy is three times and large and our military outclasses yours in every way.Your country is older and has a massive population which means you just have 1 billion living on poverty instead of a few million like us.China has been around 5000yrs but has achieved less than we have in 200yrs.


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well,i think America is the no.1 around world.But your 2 Hundred years mind could not understand five
thousand years spiritual meaning.huh

[wcreader]

While the world is preparing to see or to participant in the exciting Games, it is a good reminder to all that some families had to lost their old houses by the process of demolishing the old to build a better and more beautify home, city and game site. It is very unlikely and it is hard to believe that Beijing city have no compensation plan to the old residents. yet, it is also equally possibility that such compensation may not endup or land to the hand of the real residents (residents may not be the owner of the house/land?, developer and local official may,..). regardless of the reason, to really helping out the real need of the old resident%u2019s family, it will be good for AP/CBS to verify and to raise question in the Q/A session of the official meeting, so that story from both related parties be told, so that public awareness on this issue. It in unwise for AP/CBS to just quote someone on the street to make and to plan for negative selective reporting, thus, make political attack to the official. This kind of dispute do happen everywhere around the world, the key for the solution is to find win-win compensation for all.

[jlmcscanner]

i come from china beijing ,and i am youngman. you westerners never come to china have rights to
comment our country but you dont know the reality of it.Our country have five thousand history and you
only have 2 hundred,meanwhile we have 1.3 billion population and you only have 0.2 billion. So the different we met with you ,we must have a process to
change and progress our legal system ,democracy,environmental awareness.So come to china to see something is changing towards the right way.And i am local chinese-man not a migration welcome
to beijing .yahoo mail is [e-mail]


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Posted by beijing3000 at 05:42 PM : Aug 04, 2008

But the US economy is three times and large and our military outclasses yours in every way.Your country is older and has a massive population which means you just have 1 billion living on poverty instead of a few million like us.China has been around 5000yrs but has achieved less than we have in 200yrs.

[jlmcscanner]

jlmcscanner you can doubt it all you want, but it is true. His house was old and he couldn''''t afford to fix it up so the city bulldozed it to the ground. hauled it off and auctioned off the property.


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Posted by pollroller1 at 05:46 PM : Aug 04, 2008

OK... I grant that in light of the condition of the property.Does this man have any family that can help him ??? Very sad

[pollroller1]

jlmcscanner you can doubt it all you want, but it is true. His house was old and he couldn''t afford to fix it up so the city bulldozed it to the ground. hauled it off and auctioned off the property.

[beijing3000]

i come from china beijing ,and i am youngman. you westerners never come to china have rights to
comment our country but you dont know the reality of it.Our country have five thousand history and you
only have 2 hundred,meanwhile we have 1.3 billion population and you only have 0.2 billion. So the different we met with you ,we must have a process to
change and progress our legal system ,democracy,environmental awareness.So come to china to see something is changing towards the right way.And i am local chinese-man not a migration welcome
to beijing .yahoo mail is [e-mail]

[jlmcscanner]

That happens here in the USA every day. I know of a man that got behind on his taxes. The city sent bulldozers over to his house and leveled it. He now is living under a bridge.

Highly doubt it.... if anyone get behind on taxes the will seize the home and SELL IT for a profit.

[pollroller1]

That happens here in the USA every day. I know of a man that got behind on his taxes. The city sent bulldozers over to his house and leveled it. He now is living under a bridge.

[jlmcscanner]

i think our chinese athletes will kick america athletes butt,huh.i come from beijing china something
will show you man.


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Posted by beijing3000 at 05:08 PM : Aug 04, 2008

More bull from a third world country, the Chinese people had a chance for real freedom in the 1989 Tiananmen Square democracy protests and should have came back out again the next day after the communists slaughtered those good people and protested even harder in their memory.Still makes me sad to this day.

[beijing3000]

vietnam21:
Not chinese fake you idiot ,but some vietnam ***.
your country is full of *****.

[beijing3000]

BSueHughes%uFF1A
i think our chinese athletes will kick america athletes butt,huh.i come from beijing china something
will show you man.

[jlmcscanner]

What can we expect from a totalitarian system ??? The Chinese are commununists.... remember ??? The same kind of system the left wing loons want to bring over here.Utopia...where the powers that be take "care" of you from cradle to grave... a little like our welfare state with medicade and medicare and don`t forget social security sucking up over 1 TRILLION yeah that`s right 1 TRILLION dollars a year out of or economy that could go to fixing bridges and getting state of the art schools for our FUTURE and how about investing in science and technology instead of funding casino trips to vegas and vacations to Florida.Bottom line socialism/communism DESTROYS ECONOMIES