Police detain Beijing petitioners – Kyodo News

From Kyodo News, via Japan Today:

Chinese police detained about 600 anti-government petitioners in a slum-like Beijing neighborhood ahead of the weeklong National Day holiday that begins Saturday, sources in Beijing said Friday.

From Tuesday through Thursday, police from Beijing, northeastern China and elsewhere removed the petitioners from south Beijing low-rent hostels and a nearby tract of one-story brick houses, where they live 10 or 20 to a room for less than $1 per night while they lodge appeals with nearby central government offices over issues of local justice and corruption.