Petitioners Gather in Beijing Ahead of CCP Top Political Meetings, as Regime Tightens Control

Many Chinese citizens with grievances are coming to Beijing to file petitions, as the Chinese communist regime is preparing for its annual top political meetings amid a sluggish economy and growing public discontent.The Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) key annual meetings, known as “Two Sessions,” will be held next week. Authorities have already begun taking strict measures to prevent petitioners from traveling to Beijing.The CCP’s Two Sessions refers to the annual plenary sessions of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) and the National People’s Congress (NPC), the two houses of China’s rubber-stamp legislature.The Chinese regime set up its petition system decades ago, inviting citizens to directly address with central authorities issues or injustices caused by local officials. Numerous people from across the country travel to Beijing each year to file their petitions, especially before major political meetings or anniversaries. Petitioners believe that during these times, with more officials gathered in the capital, they have a better chance of having their grievances heard and corrected by someone in authority.In response, the CCP typically ramps up its already stringent security measures ahead of dates deemed sensitive, stopping petitioners and preventing any potential escalation into protests at the nation’s political center.A video circulating online shows that on Feb. 25, a huge crowd of petitioners gathered outside the State Bureau for Letters and Visits in Beijing.Another popular video on social media shows that on Feb. 23, several long-time petitioners were giving public speeches to the line of petitioners waiting outside the petition office.One female petitioner shouted, directing at the CCP’s leadership without naming them: “Is this what peace and prosperity look like? You can see what happens to foreigners, but you can’t see what happens to Chinese people? How have you governed the country? This generation of leaders is blind and deaf; they have ruined this country and ruined the youth of so many people!”The female petitioner also told other petitioners loudly that waiting in line to get into the petition office was useless, and called on everyone to learn from “peasant uprisings and workers’ strikes,” and shouted, “We demand human rights!” She also said, “Don’t use this method to seek justice, you’ll never get any results, even if you try until you die.”Paramilitary police officers stop a woman as she protests on her knees in front of the Great Hall of the People during an annual session of China’s rubber-stamp legislature, the National People’s Congress, in Beijing on March 13, 2015. Greg Baker/AFP/Getty ImagesCCP Tightening ControlChen Fang, an insider in Beijing who asked to use a pseudonym out of fear of reprisal, told The Epoch Times that the Chinese regime’s Stability Maintenance Office has been working since Lunar New Year’s Day, mainly to deal with petitioners.The period from Feb. 25 to March 12 is the main “security period” for the Two Sessions, because all stability maintenance work and the entry time for foreign journalists are basically carried out during these two weeks, Chen said. Secondary security checks have also begun, he said.“Any train arriving in Beijing or passing through Beijing will undergo secondary security checks,” he said.Every year as the CCP’s Two Sessions approach, dissidents in Beijing are forced to “take a vacation” in other regions, or under house arrest and surveillance by the CCP authorities. Chen said that as of Feb. 26, many dissidents had not yet been notified to leave Beijing, which is later than previous years, and he learned that one of the reasons for the delay was that the government was short of money.Beijing authorities have recently issued several notices regarding security for the Two Sessions. A notice issued on Feb. 27 stated that from March 1 to March 12, the release of balloons, kites, and other objects that may affect flight safety will be prohibited within the Beijing administrative area, as will the flight of unmanned aerial vehicles and the release of sky lanterns. Another notice issued on Feb. 25 stated that Beijing will ban vehicles carrying hazardous chemicals for 12 days from March 2 to March 13.Ning Haizhong, Luo Ya, and Sophia Lam contributed to this report.