As some 10,000 protesters attempt to reach Beijing to bring their grievances to the attention of the Chinese govt, a vast industry has sprung up to try to stop them.
As some 10,000 protesters attempt to reach Beijing this week to bring their grievances to the attention of the Chinese government, a vast industry has sprung up to try to stop them.
On a snowy morning in Beijing, more than 1,000 plain-clothed thugs, all with cropped haircuts and dark windcheaters, are gathered outside one of the city's vast government compounds.
This is the State Petitions Office, the last port of call for China's most desperate or foolhardy protesters.
Anyone brave enough to come here, however, has to run the gauntlet of intimidating "black security officers" outside. As The Daily Telegraph watched, one woman on her way to the office to submit her complaint was bundled screaming, in full sight of the police, into the back of a minivan and driven off.
Silencing protest is now big business in China, and this week is one of the busiest in the calendar. Today, China will open its annual parliamentary meetings, the National People's Congress (NPC) and the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC).
Together, they will draw 5,000 or so politicians and delegates from every corner of the country to rubber-stamp legislation and network. However, they are a magnet for protesters, especially this year, which is illuminated by the once-in-a-decade unveiling of a new generation of leaders in the autumn.
Some of protesters believe in the benevolence and wisdom of Beijing's officials. Others want to embarrass their local politicians on their trip to the capital. Almost none, according to lawyers, will ever have their cases resolved.
Since 2005, the promotion prospects of local officials have been tied to how many petitioners complain on their watch. So an industry has evolved to try to stop any problems from reaching the ears of Beijing.
Thousands of "black" security guards have arrived in Beijing from the provinces to intercept petitioners outside the capital's hot spots: Tiananmen Square, the United States Embassy, the State Petitions Office and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).
They work with the police and government officials to try to erase dissent. At the State Petitions Office, it is possible to pay to delete the records of petitions from the computer system, according to several sources.
The Daily Telegraph secretly recorded three plain-clothed security men just a few paces from the door of the UNDP office on Liangmahu South street. All were heavy-set and had recently arrived from north-east China to drag back any protesters. "Petitioning is useless. I have no sympathy for these people. If they do not listen to us, we just beat them," said one man, named Mr Yu.
China now spends as much on internal security as it does on the People's Liberation Army, and the costs of maintaining the undercover agents during the NPC are staggering.
For each petitioner, three to four people are needed to watch them around the clock, with each requiring, on top of their wages, a budget for food, transport and lodging. A rough, and conservative, calculation would add up to around 20?million yuan (pounds 2?million) per day.
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