Eight anti-China demonstrators in Hanoi who ignored government orders to end a series of protests remain in custody for investigation into causing public disorder. They were among the 47 detained at the rally on Sunday — the tenth of its kind in the Vietnamese capital — in which protesters objected to China’s supposed invasion of South China Sea waters, where the two nations have a longstanding sovereignty dispute.
US-based Cisco Systems Inc and Hewlett-Packard, along with a handful of other Western technology companies, are set to provide crucial network equipment for a massive CCTV surveillance project in the city of Chongqing. Known as “Peaceful Chongqing” the network of about 500,000 cameras will spread over nearly 400 square miles, it will police intersections, neighborhoods and parks. Chinese officials say the added surveillance will prevent crime but human-rights advocates fear it will be used to silence political dissidents.
The policing of freedom of expression is the story within the story within the story in this case study. In 2004, Gurpreet Kaur Bhatti’s play Behzti (Dishonour) was cancelled after demonstrations against it turned violent and its staging was deemed a threat to public order. Her subsequent play Behud (Beyond Belief) is a response to these events, exploring the tensions between public order and freedom of expression. The dialogue between the theatre and the police in the lead up to the premiere of Behud in 2010 is a principle feature of this case study. Julia Farrington is head of arts at Index on Censorship
Belarusian police have grabbed and beaten over a dozen reporters, broken their equipment, and detained another 150 protestors at a political rally in Minsk and Brest on Wednesday. Over a thousand people assembled to protest the repressive policies of President Alexander Lukashenko by clapping every two to three minutes to avoid arrest. The protest was strictly ‘silent’ and no one shouted or held signs. At a similar protest last week, 450 were detained.