UPDATE: China

Last week I posted about China's public justification of their suppression of pro-democracy demonstrators in Tiananmen Square. Just to refresh, Zhao Ziyang, a purged Communist Party official who critized the government for its actions against the demonstrators, died last week. The Chinese government worried that his death would provide an excuse for pro-democracy and other groups unhappy with the government to "stir up trouble." Well, it looks like they really were worried:

China has detained dozens of people, some of whom have been severely beaten, for trying to mark the death of former leader Zhao Ziyang, witnesses said.

...At least three people, including a woman in her 70s, were punched and manhandled by police officers outside the government offices which receive complaints in the Chinese capital, witnesses said.

They were among some 60 people who pinned white paper flowers to their clothes, a traditional Chinese symbol of mourning, said a bystander who took pictures of the beatings and posted them on overseas websites.

"A man from Henan province was beaten badly. His left eyeball looked like it was beaten out of its socket and he had a one inch cut to his right eye," said the man who requested anonymity.

"An elderly woman from Shandong province was beaten to a point where she couldn't move and a man from Hunan province was also beaten," he said.

Police shouted at the petitioners that Zhao, who spent nearly 16 years under house arrest until his death last week, was a "political criminal," the witness said.

"They said: 'Why are you commemorating him? You're clearly opposing the government. But the petitioners said 'We think differently. We think he's a good person."

When asked to comment, Communist officials responded, "Beating the crap out of elderly people is the warp and woof of our tremendous economic growth. See, all these old people do is mooch off of the hard work of the young. Take, take, take--all day long. So, when given the chance, we eliminate these leeches. It's easy, we just pretend they are little girls. Hey, didn't you see our growth at 9.4% this year?"

I wonder if this woman agrees?

"There's a lot of people here who are sort of into socialism and communism. And I'm really interested in that."

Too bad he's dead sweetheart, but Uncle Joe would be like, totally interested as well.