In a rare sign of public dissent, three pro-democracies banners were hung on a viaduct in the southwest of the city of Chengdu in China on Tuesday morning, according to an eminent citizen journalist of X.
The display seemed to be inspired by ‘Bridge man’ Peng Lifa, who hung similar banners on the Sitong bridge occupied in Beijing, causing the demonstrations of the white paper in November 2022.
During these demonstrations, which took place in several cities in China, people showed virgin paper sheets to symbolize that the authorities gave them no voice in the middle of the anger of the loss of freedom and pandemic locking.
Tuesday’s display in Chengdu did not seem to trigger street demonstrations, but the photos of the banners caused an online agitation and were soon blocked and deleted when they were shared on WeChat.
Photos of the banners were originally sent to the x @whyoutouzhele account, also known as “M. Li is not your teacher, “by a contributor who said he had prepared these slogans for over a year and hoped for the X -style account, which has more than 1.9 million followers, would help him disseminate his message.
The banners read: “without reform of the political system, there will be no national rejuvenation”, “people do not need a political party with a powerless power” and “China only needs no one underlines management, democracy is management”, according to the X account, which is maintained by “white paper” demonstrations.
Shortly after the original position, which increased at 6:20 am, Beijing time on Tuesday, a follow -up article confirmed that banners were suspended from a bridge outside the Chengdu Chadianzi bus station. Local residents have confirmed the location of the banners – suspended from a bridge near the Chadianzi third Ring Road interchange in the Jinniu district, Chengdu.
Subsequently, a second follow -up article on the same X account on Tuesday evening, confirmed that the man who had shared the information with Mr. Li was out of contact for more than 1 pm.
“The last thing he wanted to transmit to the public through us is that he hoped that democracy could be achieved as soon as possible,” according to the last post at 7:58 pm Beijing time on Tuesday.
RFA called the Jinniu District Public Security Office and the Chengdu police station in Chadianzi to request confirmation from the banners. A police officer said that incidents in the third ring road were outside his jurisdiction.
The rights activists estimated that the display of banners reflected latent political dissatisfaction and the desire for change that prevails in Chinese society.
“In the past decades of the PCC reign, many people demand democracy. Although people’s voices are very weak, there are always calls to unravel darkness and suck in light,” said Guo Min, a former police officer who became a political activist who moved to the United States two years ago.
An activist from Chengdu, who did not give his name for Zhao for security reasons, said that the banner incident “is a direct expression of dissatisfaction with the system and the despair of reality”.
Published by Tenzin Pema and Mat Pennington.