NYT: Church Official Calls for Review of Tiananmen Killings

[DeepModem Mom]

Church Official Calls for Review of Tiananmen Killings
By KEITH BRADSHER
Published: June 4, 2006


(Bobby Yip/Reuters)
Thousands of protesters took part in a candlelight vigil at Hong Kong's Victoria Park to mark the 17th anniversary of the military crackdown on the pro-democracy movement in Beijing's Tiananmen Square.

Hong Kong, June 4 – The highest official of the Roman Catholic church in China marked the 17th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square killings today by strongly criticizing the Chinese government and calling on it to hold a full and open review of the killings.

The criticism by Cardinal Joseph Zen is the latest sign that the Vatican may not be willing to compromise on human rights in order to establish diplomatic relations with mainland China.

Pope Benedict XVI has pursued the normalization of ties with Beijing for the past year. But those efforts have been on hold lately after the government-approved church on the mainland installed two priests as bishops a month ago without the Vatican's approval.

Wearing the red and white robes he was given after Pope Benedict XVI made him a cardinal in March, Cardinal Zen walked straight from celebrating Mass at the cathedral here to a prayer meeting on a cement-floored, indoor basketball court next door. He defended the students who died in and around Tiananmen Square on June 4, 1989, whom Beijing has labeled as counter-revolutionaries seeking to overthrow the state....

***

The Chinese Communist Party now bases its legitimacy to a considerable extent on the material prosperity it has brought to many of China's 1.3 billion people. But Cardinal Zen questioned whether this was enough. He cited coal mine disasters and consumer safety scandals that have embarrassed Beijing repeatedly in recent years....

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/06/04/world/asia/05tiananmen_cnd.html?hp&ex=1149480000&en=42a2469ba0740c65&ei=5094&partner=homepage

[Vidar]

1. Prosecute Cain for killing Abel while you're at it.

[struggle4progress]

2. 17th Tiananmen Square Anniversary Passes In China

http://img.viacomlocalnetworks.com/images_sizedimage_155185908/lg
Students hold candles as they take part in a rally marking the 17th anniversary of the military crackdown in Tiananmen Square on a pro-democracy student movement in Beijing, Hong Kong Victoria park, June 4, 2006.

(AP) BEIJING Chinese police tore up a protester's poster and detained at least two people on Beijing's Tiananmen Square on Sunday as the country marked 17 years since local troops crushed a pro-democracy demonstration in the public space.

An elderly woman tried to pull out a poster with apparently political material written on it, but police ripped it up and then took her away in a van ...

After dawn, a group of tourists tried to open a banner while posing for a photo, catching the attention of police, who quickly forced them to put the nonpolitical material away. They were not detained ...

http://cbs4.com/topstories/topstories_story_155185247.html

[DiverDave]

3. Too much profit in the slave trade.

the mega corp's use chinese workers as slaves for their bottom line.
Nothing will come of this, nothing.

[malaise]

4. How come the US media

makes an issue of this anniversary every year but forget Kent State?

One must have a sense of humour to live on this planet.