Newspaper Editor beaten to death after commenting on electric bicycle fees

http://www.news.com.au/story/0,10117...-23109,00.html
Editor dies after police beating
From: Reuters
From correspondents in Beijing

February 07, 2006

A CHINESE newspaper editor had died from injuries months after traffic
police beat him up for an expose about exorbitant electric bicycle licence
fees, a New York-based press watchdog said.

A spokesman for the Taizhou city government in the eastern coastal province
of Zhejiang confirmed that Wu Xianghu, 41, deputy editor of the Taizhou
Evening News, had died, but said the cause of death had yet to be
determined.
China's tightly controlled state media have not mentioned Wu's death on
Thursday last week, even though they reported the October attack.

The Committee to Protect Journalists said yesterday that authorities had
prevented local media from reporting the death.

Chinese journalists who report crime and corruption in the newly competitive
media environment face increasing incidents of violence, the committee said.

Dozens of uniformed traffic police stormed into the newspaper's offices on
October 20 and assaulted Wu, state media and press watchdogs said at the
time.

The attack stemmed from a report in the previous day's newspaper on high
licence fees imposed by police on electric bicycles.
Wu died of liver and kidney failure after months of hospital treatment, the
committee said. The official Xinhua news agency reported last year that Wu's
liver had been damaged.

The Paris-based Reporters Without Borders said Wu underwent a liver
transplant two years ago.

A newspaper colleague today confirmed Wu's death but would not provide
details.

"The death of our colleague after he was brutally assaulted for his work is
a cruel reminder of the new dangers faced by Chinese journalists," Committee
to Protect Journalists executive director Ann Cooper said.

"The government must ensure the safety of the working press. This begins by
bringing to justice the attackers of Wu Xianghu."

Senior traffic police officer Li Xiaoguo was sacked for his role in the
incident, Xinhua reported at the time.

Li had demanded an apology which led to an argument with Wu at the newspaper
office. He then summoned colleagues to the scene.

The Taizhou city government spokesman said no charges had been brought
against anyone involved in the attack.

Gemma_k Wrote:
Dozens of uniformed traffic police stormed into the newspaper's offices
on October 20 and assaulted Wu, state media and press watchdogs said at
the time.

The attack stemmed from a report in the previous day's newspaper on
high
licence fees imposed by police on electric bicycles. Wu died of liver
and kidney failure after months of hospital treatment, the committee
said. The official Xinhua news agency reported last year that Wu's
liver had been damaged.

The Paris-based Reporters Without Borders said Wu underwent a liver
transplant two years ago.


Actually Wu died from complications resulting from the initial assault
& existing health problems. As if that makes a lick of difference to
the amount of corruption & collusion. Meanwhile, back on January 25:

Beijing OKs electric bicycles
http://www.peopleandplanet.net/doc.php?id=2645
The Chinese capital has removed the ban on electric bicycles to ease
city traffic, which have become increasingly congested due to fast
rising numbers of cars on the road.

A circular from the Beijing Municipal Public Security Bureau said from
January 4, electric bikes that have met national standards and entered
an approved list are officially allowed to take to the road after being
registered with the city's traffic administration.

The city stopped registering electric bikes from August 2002 after the
number reached tens of thousands, citing the reason that used batteries
of such bikes are hard to dispose of and may pollute the environment.

The point has been hotly debated by the public. Electric bike producers
argued a sound system for retrieving and disposing of used batteries has
been established. Beijing citizens generally favour lifting the ban,
saying such bikes are very convenient means of transportation.

Buses and subway trains in Beijing are notoriously crowded. Electric
bikes are the best option for a large number of people who desire quick
transport but cannot comfortably afford cars.

Electric bike producers, environmental experts and ordinary citizens
have never stopped lobbying for the removal of the ban.

Removal of the ban came as pressure mounts on city administrators to
tackle horrible traffic congestion, air pollution and possible fuel
supply, caused to a large extent by a rapidly growing number of cars on
the road.

It is just part of a series of measures undertaken by the capital city
to address traffic congestion. Other major steps include greatly
increasing the number of buses and building more urban railways.

Some other areas in China, including a few cities in Hubei and
Guangdong provinces, still ban the use of electric bikes.


--
cfsmtb

On 2006-02-07, cfsmtb (aka Bruce)
was almost, but not quite, entirely unlike tea:
http://www.peopleandplanet.net/doc.php?id=2645
....
The city stopped registering electric bikes from August 2002 after the
number reached tens of thousands, citing the reason that used batteries
of such bikes are hard to dispose of and may pollute the environment.

That is so clearly bogus. Batteries on bikes are made of chemicals as
nasty as the batteries in cars (OK, so its cadmium vs lead. Which
would you prefer being let into the environment if illegally dumped?).
I don't know how many people illegally dump dead car batteries in
China, but if it is anything like Australia, they're hardly going to
be more environmentally friendly than a bike battery.


I wonder what the real reason was?

--
TimC
"A distributed system is one in which I cannot get something done
because a machine I've never heard of is down." -- Leslie Lamport

TimC Wrote:


I wonder what the real reason was?



The pre-existing Chinese socialist market economy moving towards a
privatised market economy. Just like ours.


--
cfsmtb