Report: China Releases Tiananmen Protester

[Rose Siding]

BEIJING - A factory worker who helped to organize a strike during China's 1989 pro-democracy protests has been released after nearly 15 years in prison, a U.S.-based prison rights group said Saturday.

Chen Gang reportedly was convicted of "hooliganism" and sentenced to life in prison following the violent crackdown that ended the 1989 protests centered on Tiananmen Square in central Beijing, the Dui Hua Foundation said.
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The announcement highlighted the detention of people sentenced to long prison terms after the 1989 crackdown. It wasn't clear how many were still behind bars on charges of counterrevolution.

Chen worked for the Xiangtan Electrical Machinery Plant, one of the biggest government factories in the central province of Hunan, the Dui Hua Foundation said. It said he helped to organize a strike that shut down the factory during the 1989 protests.

Communist leaders were especially severe in punishing such labor activists after the 1989 crackdown, apparently fearing that unrest among China's vast urban working class was a grave threat to party control.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&e=5&u=/ap/20041120/ap_on_re_as/china_tiananmen_protester

[SOS]

1. 15 years in a dungeon

for organizing a labor strike.
Gotta keep those Wal-Marts stocked.

[Straight Shooter]

2. Woohoo! Freedom is on the march in China

At the same time as it is marching out of the U.S.

I'm happy for him. He is a changed man, but he changed the world. I truly believe he did. I hope I find such courage within me if the time comes.

[geomon666]

3. Oh you will.

As we all will when each and every single one of us is sent marching hand in handcuffed motherf***ing hand into Gitmo on 'hooliganism' charges. You know, really wicked s*** like holding a sign outside of our Freedom Zones or conducting a sit-in.

The hunt is on my friends. Watch it happen.