chi@vlsi.uwaterloo.ca (Bo Chi) (01/15/90)
| +---------I __L__ ___/ \ -------I +----+----+ | ___\_\_ | \./ | | -----+- | | | | | __ \/ | --+-- |--- | |---| | I----+----I | I__J/\ | __|__ | | | |---| | | | _____ \ | /| \ | | | L__-| | I I---------J / J \/ | | V | J * C h i n a N e w s D i g e s t * (ND Canada Service) -- Jan. 15 (I), 1990 Table of Contents No. of Lines Brief News..........................................................73 1. Beijing residents unimpressed by lifting of martial law..........54 2. Border Guard Says State Of Revolt Exists In Albanian City........29 --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Brief News --------------------------------------------------------------------------- [South China Morning Post/kwchan@hkucs.UUCP] Two senior news executives were dismissed as China tightens its grip on the nation's official media. Legal Daily Director, Mr Guan Zhihao, 59, an ally of the late reformist leader, Mr Hu Yaobang, has been replaced by Mr Lu Fengyi, a senior official at the Justice Ministry. Literary and Art Gazette editor Xie Yongwang has been succeeded by Mr Zheng Bonong, a political theoretician. Mr Guan and Xie were sacked because their staffs took part in massive pro-democracy protests crushed by the army in June. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1. Beijing residents unimpressed by lifting of martial law --------------------------------------------------------------------------- [Hongkong Standard,Cheung Po-ling/kwchan@hkucs.UUCP (Chan Ki Wa)] Public reaction in Beijing to the lifting of martial law at midnight on Wednesday has been markedly subdued. Dawn on Thursday revealed that Tiananmen Square and the roads leading to it had been reopened to the public. However, the only reaction of one passerby was: "I found it more convenient. But apart from that, I don't have any ohter feelings." Scores of local and foreign journalists were the first people to enter Tiananmen Square, followed by Beijing residents curious to see the "hotbed" of the nationwide democracy movement. Many of the locals said they had come to look for signs of the military crackdown, even though the army has meticulously erased all bullet holes and other evidence of the events of June 4. Not all of the square had been reopened. Access to the Monument to the People's Heroes, the area hardest hit when the army cleared the square with tanks, was cut off and eight soldiers stood guard. A notice on the front said the monument needed special protection to "maintain its solemnity". It also barred the leaving of flowers. The Memorial Hall of Mao Zedong was open, however, and a small queue soon formed outside. However, it comprised only tourists from the provinces who showed little interest in last June's events. That was true of the majority of people in the square on Thursday. Many said they had only come to see what was going on and crowds would quickly form whenever a reporter conducted an interview with a local or a foreign tourist. Asked if they felt relieved that martial law was over, most replied: "Not at all." They said the move merely meant that the armed police who have guarded the square had been replaced by plain-clothes security men. As it was, police frequently marched through the square as if reminding people that they were still there. However, some people were there to remember June 4: "I have all sorts of feelings in my mind and my heart felt heavy when I revisited this place," said one student, speaking quietly to avoid being overheard. "My mood is as grey as the sky." ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2. Border Guard Says State Of Revolt Exists In Albanian City ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- [AP/yawei@aqua.bacs.indiana.edu] ATHENS - Newspapers Saturday quoted an Albanian border guard who fled the country as saying security forces fired on protesters last week. The guard said that one city was in a state of ''revolution.'' Also Saturday, the Albanian state-run news agency ATA quoted an Italian diplomat as denying there was unrest in the isolated country. Albania, located between Greece and Yugoslavia, is the last bastion of Stalinism in Eastern Europe and is closed to most foreigners. Daily newspapers in Greece on Saturday quoted Albert Tzeka, 20, as saying widespread protests had broken out in at least three cities in his country against the hard-line Communist leadership. ''The people have risen up. The people and the students ... especially in Shkoder, Korce and Sarande,'' Tzeka was quoted as saying. ''In Shkoder there is a revolution. The army and the sigurimi (security police) fired on the people and there are many dead and injured,'' the daily Kathimerini quoted Tzeka as saying. Yugoslav and Greek newspapers have carried unconfirmed reports since Thursday of demonstrations and a state of emergency in Shkoder, Albania's second-largest city. Albanian authorities have consistently denied any trouble, calling reports of turmoil ''slander.'' +-----------------------------------------------------------------------+ | Editor: Gary Liu E-mail: gl@cithe1.bitnet | +-----------------------------------------------------------------------+ News Transmission chi@vlsi.uwaterloo.ca (or) ----------------------- --------------------- NDCadada Editor: Bo Chi chi@vlsi.waterloo.edu ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Mon Jan 15 11:01:16 EST 1990