Chongqing's Unusual Protest: "Group Walks"

From May 18 to today, more than 10,000 residents from Wansheng, a former district of Chongqing, have been taking what some are calling a “group walk.” They did it for the entire day. And the day after, and the day after. Streets were completely packed. Freeway entrances—blocked off. Besides the occasional grocery store, everything else was closed. 

 

It first began just a week after a massive merchant strike. Wansheng resident Wang Lan tells Radio Free Asia that the residents are protesting the merger of Wansheng and the nearby Qijiang County. 

 

[Wang Lan, Wansheng Resident]: 

“The protest has been going on for more than 10 days, starting from the 18th [of May to June 1st]. Everyday people take these “group walks”. They gather at the Square, circle it, and come back. Today they’ve already walked it 3 times. It is especially serious today. The freeway entrances were blocked off this morning. A lot of citizens were by the freeway entrance”.

 

Authorities are using a heavy-handed approach to deal with the “group walkers.” Due to a shortage of police forces in the area, military vehicles were sent in. These included armored vehicles, anti-riot vehicles, wrecker trucks, water artillery, communication vehicles and about 20 trucks filed in with armed police.

 

[Wang Lan, Wansheng Resident]: 

“There were even helicopters at the square. They circled the square four times. The police were maintaining [the peace (or something else)]. All the clothing stores, restaurants and others are all closed, only the grocery store is open.”

 

At the end of last year, Chongqing authorities decided to merge Wansheng District with Qijiang County without consent from the residents. 

 

The decision came after large-scale protests on April 10th and 11th. Many police cars were burned and smashed. Afterwards, Chongqing local authorities took remedial measures and re-distributed 6 Qijiang townships into Wansheng economic developmental area. 

 

The economy in Wansheng steadily fell, with real estate prices dropping as well. People’s health insurance, social security and welfare benefits also went down. However, authorities are not reconsidering the merge.