MALVERN’S Amnesty International group is marking the 20th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre by asking residents to sign a petition calling on the Chinese Government to release prisoners still in custody and initiate an independent inquiry into the event.
The petition will be available at the Amnesty Bookshop in Edith Walk from June 1-6 and the signatures will be collated with other petitions being organised across the country by Amnesty International UK.
Petitions from across the world will then be delivered to Wu Bangguo, chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress of China, on June 15.
Bob Leverett, chairman of the Malvern Hills Amnesty International group, said: “The aim is to be loud enough to be heard by the National People’s Congress, so that it is understood that people throughout the world are making this anniversary an opportunity to show their solidarity with the people of China.
“Chinese soldiers fired on unarmed civilians taking part in a pro-democracy demonstration in June 1989, an event that continues to shock people everywhere.
“It is appalling to think that some of those civilians are still in custody, but this illustrates the extent to which the Chinese authorities continue to persecute human rights defenders and activists.”
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