Yunnan woman escapes detention for stopping Wen Jiabao

Want China Times, Staff Reporter 2012-11-24

Wen Jiabao inspects Yiliang, which was hit by a series of earthquakes on
Sept. 7, killing 81. (Photo/Xinhua)

A woman in southwest China's Yunnan province who briefly held up Premier Wen Jiabao in early September as he was on his way to visit the site where a deadly earthquake had struck has had her seven-day detention sentence overturned.

Around 2am on Sept. 8, Wen was traveling to Yiliang county, where there had been an earthquake the day before, when Liang Yonglan together with a few other local residents knelt in the middle of the road where the premier was passing. They stopped the premier to deliver a petition about a land acquisition issue.

On Nov. 19, Liang was arrested by police without a reason being given. She was later accused of causing a serious political disturbance and a traffic jam for the premier and his team and told she would be punished for a seven-day administrative detention.

"It (the petition) only lasted three minutes and the traffic resumed. The premier also said that it 'is a farmer's basic right. No need to stop them. We must try to understand what is going on and give us (villagers) a satisfactory answer'," said Liang's husband, surnamed Hu, adding that he did not expect his wife to be detained two months after the incident.

The police allegedly went looking for other villagers who petitioned the premier but failed to arrest them because they were not home. Hu said his wife was released the next day after paying a bond of 1,000 yuan (US$160).

The public security bureau of Zhaotong, the prefecture-level city that administrates Yilang, ordered the county's authorities to revoke Liang's punishment. It has also begun an investigation to determine if the regulations regarding such detentions are appropriate.

The earthquakes in Yunnan on Sept. 7 left 81 people dead and 821 injured. According to official figures, at least 100,000 people were evacuated and more than 20,000 houses were damaged.

References:

Wen Jianbo　　溫家寶

Liang Yonglan　　梁永蘭

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