Beijing knocks down houses of petitioners

BEIJING - Chinese authorities knocked down part of a rundown neighborhood in Beijing yesterday where people live, sometimes for months, while petitioning the central government for help fighting grievances in their hometowns.

Authorities sprayed several buildings with water, then crushed them with a bulldozer. The small compound lies next to a new train station being built in the southern part of the capital.

Residents who gathered on a nearby bridge to watch the demolition said about 30 petitioners had been living in the settlement and were told to leave by this month. It was unclear how many people had lived in the two or three buildings torn down yesterday.

China's petition system dates back thousands of years and is designed to allow ordinary people to raise formal grievances. When their efforts fail to produce results at home, petitioners often come to Beijing, crowding into the neighborhood in southern Beijing's Fengtai district, which offers cheap rent and close proximity to the State Council petition office, which is just across a highway.

The move comes ahead of a major Communist Party meeting next month during which the number of petitioners in the area had been expected to swell. People often come to Beijing during big political events and stay for weeks and sometimes months while petitioning the central government for help in fighting local corruption or other abuses.

The authorities "are doing this now so they can have a successful 17th Party Congress to prevent petitioners from making trouble," said one petitioner who gave her name as Zhao.