Arrests Ahead of Tournament

2010-08-25

Police clear Beijing of dissidents ahead of a star-studded martial arts event.

Photo appears courtesy of Boxun

Tiananmen crackdown victim Qi Zhiyong in Tiananmen Square.

HONG KONG—Police in China's capital have removed a victim of the Tiananmen Square military crackdown from the city ahead of a high-profile martial arts event associated with Hollywood martial arts star Jackie Chan.

Qi Zhiyong, disabled due to injuries sustained when People's Liberation Army troops suppressed the student-led pro-democracy movement on the night of June 3-4, 1989, said he had been taken out of the city to an undisclosed location Tuesday by two regular police and two security guards.

"The police said that it was because of the SportAccord Combat Games," Qi said. "Also I sent an update on Twitter about [fellow dissident] Li Jinping who wanted to hold a demonstration."

"They said they thought I supported the demonstration, and they were putting me under house arrest—for a whole bunch of reasons at the same time."

"I'm in the police car now. They told me that I'd probably be set free at the beginning of September. They don't know the exact timing themselves," Qi said.

Chan's recent Hollywood blockbuster, The Karate Kid, is set in modern-day Beijing and shows an open, prosperous, and hi-tech China likely to find favor with both the ruling Communist Party and Chinese audiences.