This content was originally published by Radio Free Asia, and it is now licensed for reprint.
According to video from the incident, an unnamed activist slung a symbol from a motorist footbridge in the northern Chinese province of Hunan this week to demand political government, while a loudspeaker shouted demands for Xi Jinping’s ouster.
The symbol bore a series of phrases very similar to the , Oct. 13, 2022 Sitong Bridge protest , in Beijing by Peng Lifa, who was detained soon afterwards and hailed as a warrior by democracy protesters.
The Hunan symbol read:” Equality, no pleasure. Flexibility, no power. Changes, no the Cultural Revolution. Votes no leaders”.
” Just when we cease being prisoners will we be people”, read the symbol, which appeared on July 30, according to an unnamed citizen journalist.
Phrases even blared from a loudspeaker, calling for attacks by kids and employees.
” We want politics! We want to ballot! Oust Xi Jinping”! the speech said.
People in China , often challenge , those in authority, despite widespread security, a “grid” system of law police at the community level and a qualified” stability maintenance” system aimed at controlling critics of the ruling Chinese Communist Party before they take action.
But those who take part in public displays of peaceful protest like the November 2022″ light paper” movement , risk , detention, imprisonment, and the abuse of their loved ones, yet if they are  , elsewhere.
Planting’ seedlings ‘
Mr. Li is not your teacher, two 26-second film videos posted to the X accounts displayed the banners.
Both videos plainly audible the loudspeaker slogans.
According to online accounts, the banners were hung from a pedestrian footbridge on Tianhua Road in Loudi, a city of 3.7 million people in the center of Hunan province just one kilometer ( 0.62 miles ) from the county police department and three kilometers ( 1.8 miles ) from the local , Xinhua county seat.  ,
Some online users praised the bravery of the unidentified activists, while others expressed concern for their protection, pointing to surveillance cameras on the scene.
Important blog Toronto Square Face commented:” If you rally, the tyrant is likely to step over. There will be more and more separatists like this as China’s market declines”.
Japan-based social media critic Wild Dog, who gave just their online manage for fear of reprisals, said Peng’s brave opposition had planted” seedlings” among the Chinese people.
According to Wild Dog,” It’s a progression of the Peng Lifa opposition against the Sitong Bridge.” ” The phrases are very related”.
” I think the seeds were planted back then, and now the plants are blooming”.
Sitong Bridge
Paris-based actor and advocate Jiang Bu said Peng’s rally was just the start, echoing , calls for quiet change , from previous Communist Party thinker Cai Xia.
” All saw that symbol on Sitong Bridge, and came out of their social hibernation”, Jiang said. ” Peng’s opposition and Xinhua’s protest may… make other people believe they could do the same thing,” Peng said.
Jiang said one of the stuff that has changed in recent years in China is the growing , cooperation between activists , in China and those abroad.
” For things will continue to happen in potential”, Jiang said. ” Everyone may think that the SkyNet system with its facial recognition]is a barrier ] but there is still room for action”.
He claimed that “very minor acts of resistance” could ultimately be the straw that breaks the camel’s back.
Other protesters told RFA in 2023 that Peng was still intact, although his movements remain unclear. But his relatives are under tight security, according to Netherlands-based rebel Lin Shengliang, who has remained in contact with persons near to Peng.
Just days before the Chinese Communist Party’s regional parliament, at which Xi won an unprecedented third term as party leader, Peng, who uses the pencil name Peng Zaizhou, hung his banners from Sitong Bridge in reference to an old article that said the people are the “boat of state” and that they might reverse it if they are angry with its rule.
” Remove the traitor-dictator Xi Jinping”! read one of Peng’s banners, video and photos of which were quickly posted to social media, only to be deleted. A post linked to the account demanded that Xi be removed and that there be class boycotts.
” Food, not COVID tests. Freedom, not lockdowns. Reforms, not the Cultural Revolution. Elections not leaders”, read the second, adding:” Dignity, not lies. Citizens, not slaves”.
