Twenty artists demonstrate in downtown Beijing

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Source: Global Times [02:10 February 23 2010]

Artists march on Chang'an Avenue in Beijing, protesting the attack on their art districts Monday. Photo courtesy of Ai Weiwei
By Wen Tao and Song Shengxia
About 20 artists briefly demonstrated Monday in downtown Beijing, claiming that they had fallen victim to early morning "assaults by thugs hired by local authorities" in their suburban residential complex that will be demolished to give way to urbanization projects.
The artists claim their contract hasn't run out at the Zhengyang Creative Art Zone in Chaoyang District, but the government and property developers have told them since July that they need to move out.
The group went to Chang'an Avenue Monday afternoon, holding posters and protesting the alleged assaults suffered by nine of the artists living in the zone.
Some of those present said they initially had planned to march on Tiananmen Square, but they were dispersed by police and armed soldiers at an intersection near the All-China Women's Federation Plaza located about two kilometers away from the Square. The activists spoke to media at the intersection where they were stopped.
The group began its march at Jianguomen, holding posters saying "Civil Rights!" and yelling slogans such as "Capital Beijing, brutal demolition!" Their posters were confiscated.
Liu Yi, who was using a wheelchair, wore what appeared to be a blood-covered coat, with blood apparently seeping through a bandage on his head. He was accompanied by Wu Yuren, the head of the rights protection team of the 008 Art District.
The crowd dispersed around 5 pm after just a few hours.
Cheng Lianyuan, head of Chaoyang District, arrived at the art zone Monday morning to oversee an investigation into the alleged beatings.
He instructed village leaders to try to safeguard the artists and mend the fence destroyed by the thugs, while ordering video-monitoring devices be immediately installed to avoid a recurrence.
The incident came amid increasing conflicts between property developers and residents as the country embraces urbanization amid a booming property market.
Li Jiemin, deputy party chief of Jinzhan Township, vowed that "a police investigation will find out who is behind the incident. I can assure you the township government had nothing to do with the incident."
The artists allege that five trucks, loaded with about 100 men wearing green military-style overcoats and masks, drove into their district around 2 am Monday and started destroying the studios.
When some artists went to stop them, the alleged assailants took away their cell phones and cameras, forcing them to kneel down before beating them with thick clubs, according to Gao Qiang, a designer who owns a studio in Zhengyang.

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Six artists from Zhengyang and three from the neighboring 008 Art District were among those allegedly beaten.
One of the injured, Iwama Satoshi, a Japanese artist who was on guard Monday, was sent to China-Japan Friendship Hospital and received five stitches on the back of his head.
Police were notified by an artist who said he had managed to sneak out of the district. Three of the alleged assailants were caught by the artists and handed over to police.
"The officials said that they will help restore our gates and dispatch security guards to protect us until we reach an agreement with the developer," Gao said.
A notice handed out to some artists in late November says, "According to the government order, the community will be demolished on December 5, 2009. All tenants must move by the prescribed time. Otherwise articles in the house will be deemed as rejected. The demolition agency has the right to dispose of them at their discretion."
On December 3, a new notice with an official stamp of the Hanshiyizhou Culture and Art Development Company was put up to ask the artists to vacate the area by December 5.
But Gao said that some of the artists had signed new leases as recently as October.
When the artists didn't move, power and water supplies to their studios were cut off.
An official from Changdian village in Chaoyang District said Monday on condition of anonymity that the art centers are being demolished due to urban-rural integration in the district.
He refused to disclose details about whether there was a plan to resettle the thousands of artists currently living and working in the art centers, but he said the artists should ask their landlords for compensation.
About 40 percent of petitions in Beijing are related to demolitions, and 40 percent of mass incidents across the country are related to demolitions, according to Wang Cailiang, a specialist in demolition regulations in Beijing who said the current policies are flawed.
Last month, the draft of new demolition regulations was made available for public comment.
The draft stipulates that property-requisition agencies must compensate the property owners before they enforce demolition, and reconstruction can be granted only when 90 percent of property owners approve a project.
The draft also prohibits cutting off power, water or gas supplies to drive people out.
So far, the notice has received more than 20,000 public comments.
"The new rules have made obvious progress in protecting the rights of property owners and tenants. Hopefully, it can reduce conflicts arising from housing relocations," Wang said.
Xuyang Jingjing and Guo Qiang contributed to this story

http://china.globaltimes.cn/society/2010-02/507176.html

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