China: Chinese Director Arrested For Protest Film
During the White Paper Movement, Chen and his friends shot a large number of videos at Urumqi Middle Road, the site of a large protest in Shanghai. Around the first anniversary of the White Paper Movement in November 2023, Chen finalized and uploaded his footage as a documentary called Urumqi Middle Road, also called Not the Foreign Force, to the Internet.
At the end of this movie, Chen left this narration:
Some people say, what is the point of protesting on the streets? In the end, it's still the same, suppressed, shielded and misinterpreted. But as Churchill said, 'Courage is one of the most important traits of humanity, and with courage, all other human traits are naturally available.' We have lacked experience and have been cowardly and shaky, but today we have the courage to stand up and to speak out. What we lacked this time, we can do better next time. If I were to do it again, I would still choose to be there. Because a government that is afraid of even a white paper can't crush the justice in the hearts of the people.
In late November 2023, Chen Pinlin was detained by the Chinese authorities for “picking quarrels and provoking trouble”. On 5 January 2024, Chen was formally arrested on the same charge; he is currently being held at the Baoshan Detention Center. On 18 February, his case was transferred to the prosecutor's office for prosecution.
This is the second case of arrest for sharing information about the White Paper Movement that Amnesty International has been able to document. The first was that of a Uyghur university student Kamile Wayit; information about her case is available here. Amnesty believes that this is only the tip of the iceberg, and that many more reports of detention, arrest or disappearance linked to the protests in November 2022 may be credible. Due to the swift and harsh response of authorities, however, the true number and scope of cases linked to the White Paper Movement is likely impossible to determine.
Amnesty has documented torture and ill-treatment in places of detention in China since at least 2015, with the report No end in sight - Torture and forced confessions in China, and most recently in the China entry of the 2023 Annual Report.
About the White Paper Movement or “A4 Protest” in China.
On 24 November 2022, a fire broke out in an apartment building in Urumqi, killing at least 10 people, according to government sources. Many blamed Covid-19 restrictions for the deaths but local authorities disputed this claim. This did not stop protests from breaking out in Urumqi, the capital of the western region of Xinjiang. After the fire, the government declared that the Covid-19 outbreak was under control and the city would ease lockdowns, following more than 100 days of severe restrictions on people’s movement.
On 25 November, a student from the Nanjing Media College reportedly protested on campus holding a white sheet of paper, and was joined by other students. The action quickly spread across the country, with videos shared on social media showing protests breaking out across universities and cities throughout China, including in Beijing, Guangzhou, Shanghai and Wuhan.
Peaceful protesters commemorated the victims of the Urumqi fire and called for the easing of lockdown measures. Many also demanded the end of censorship and some even called for President Xi to step down. A large number of people were detained for participating in these peaceful protests. It is unclear how many were detained, and whether any remain in detention today, nearly 18 months later. Videos circulated online show police forces beating protesters during the arrests.
The White Paper Movement was also characterized by the transnational nature of the protests, with overseas Chinese students often demonstrating in solidarity with peers in the country. For the one-year anniversary, Amnesty International shared for the stories of six participants on how the White Paper Movement changed their lives.