Migrant Workers Riot in China

SHANGHAI, China) — Hundreds of migrant workers angry over mistreatment of a fellow worker rioted for three days in eastern China, surrounding a police station and smashing cars and motorbikes, a Hong Kong-based human rights organization said Monday.
The riot began Thursday in Kanmen town in coastal Zhejiang province, said the Information Center for Human Rights and Democracy. Three hundred military police arrived Sunday and 30 migrant workers have been detained, the group said. No injuries were reported.
A woman who answered the telephone at Kanmen's public security bureau denied that workers broke into the police station or burned vehicles, saying they only gathered in the streets and shouted in protest. The woman did not give her name as is common with officials in China.
The Hong Kong-based rights group said the unrest in Kanmen was centered around a migrant worker who was beaten by a security guard while trying to get a temporary residence permit.
The violence comes just weeks after a crowd of 30,000 people in southwest China set fire to a police station, angry over what many believed was a cover-up of the death of a teenage girl by local authorities.
Such incidents are an embarrassment to officials, especially in the run-up to the Aug. 8 Beijing Olympics.
According to the rights group, when the worker went to police with a group of other workers to complain about the man who beat him, he was detained, triggering the protest in which hundreds of workers converged outside the police station, burning police cars and motorcycles and later throwing stones.
The report did not give any other details about the incident, including why the worker was beaten.
A notice posted on the Web site of Yuhuan County, which oversees Kanmen, said the July 10 "incident" was being investigated but did not describe what the incident was.
It "has caused a strong backlash by society, and the public is very concerned about the truth, and about how it was dealt with, and how the local offices have recovered," the notice said.
Thousands of migrant workers have flocked to the area and the situation has put pressure on the government, it said.
Also Monday, the official Xinhua News Agency said police in Guizhou province detained 100 people, including 39 members of local gangs, for involvement in last month's protest over the death of the student.
It quoted Peng Dequan, vice director of provincial public security, as saying they were still looking for other "gangsters" who were in hiding.
Authorities accused local gangs of fomenting the unrest and have urged offenders to surrender, Xinhua said.

Gaza Strip's Plight

A great number of men, women and children in the Gaza Strip live in one of the most chaotic environments on Earth. The escalating violence between warring political factions such as the Palestinians and Israelis has caused many to doubt the prospect of a peaceful state. And many are wondering if the Gaza Strip will return to its former grandeur as the gem Mediterranean.
The Gaza Strip is rife with political contradiction and corruption. In retrospect, the actions of the Palestinians to retain control of Gaza have been considered by many to be outrageous and condemnable. Once the Israelis surrendered control of Gaza City, the Palestinians were divided into two major parties for the reign of Gaza- Hamas and Fateh. Will the Gaza Strip ever know peace?
Both the Israelis and the Palestinians have always been known for their convictions and unrelenting character, which some believe is their downfall. And while Palestinians quibble over their small scraps of land, the Israelites will continue to enjoy their vacation from Hamas violence. However, the future of the Gaza Strip does not look promising.
Until the late 1940's, ethnicities and religions of all kinds lived together in peace in the Gaza Strip. Christians, Muslims and Jews were neighbors, all of whom worshipped on the same soil. After WWII, what many have referred to as "The Great War", British troops seized control of Palestine and remanded the country to the hands of the Jews as a gift. It was then to be known as the Jewish Nation. Without remorse or approval, the Jews banished many Palestinian citizens from their own homes and land. A number of them fled to nearby countries, yet many remained - to fight what they viewed as tyranny and injustice. Thus, Gaza Strip Palestinians have been a requisite ingredient to define this region.
This serves as a great history lesson to the world. So long as Israel occupies the Gaza Strip Palestine will never see peace. The Palestinians' view is that the Gaza Strip and the remainder of the land surrounding it belongs to the them alone. But since they cannot come to an accord then what will become of the Jews if they are forced out of Palestine. After having lived there for 50 years, Jews consider this their homeland. Several generations of Jews have been born and raised there. So removing them is hardly an option. Perhaps a return to the original state, where Christians, Muslims and Jews live together in harmony is what this region needs the most.
Is it right to empathize with the Jews or do we empathize with the original Palestinians? It is a difficult question. The atrocities of the holocaust left many feeling that the Jews deserved a home of their own. After all, they have been persecuted for thousands of years. Perhaps the correct answer is that we sympathize with both. But the worst attitude we could possibly take is to become callous to the events in this region. We cannot fall into apathy over the seemingly interminable violence.