A number of petitioners from across China who had gathered outside the China Central Television (CCTV) Tower Tuesday, China's National Legal Advocacy Day, were allegedly sent to a petitioner shelter by police.
Fifteen petitioners from Hunan and Jiangsu provinces and Shanghai, according to signs the petitioners held, protested outside the CCTV Tower Tuesday morning, but by 11 am, the petitioners were seated inside a bus, still yelling loudly.
"How can you treat a senior citizen like this? I want to drink and eat! I want to go to the toilet!" shouted a man at police officers. He appeared to be in his 60s. Officers on the scene would not allow the reporter to talk to this man. The protesters were shouting about their grievances, which mostly related to property disputes.
Sun Xuemei, 60 and retired from Qingdao, Shandong Province, who also came to petition over a property dispute, said she witnessed the police escorting the people to the bus.
"I arrived at 9 am. The police were putting those people on the bus at that time, but they didn't use violence," Sun said.
An anonymous police officer at the scene said they would not charge them with anything, but would only gather them and let their provincial officials handle their issues individually.