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China guards against another Tiananmen through surveillance, prevention and preparation
• BEIJING (AP) -- When visiting friends in China's capital, environmental activist Wu Lihong must slip away from his rural home before sunrise, before the police officers watching his home awaken. He rides a bus to an adjacent province and jumps aboard a train just minutes before departure to avoid being spotted.
• In a neighboring province, veteran dissident Yin Weihong finds himself hauled into a police station merely for keeping in touch with old friends from the 1989 Tiananmen Square pro-democracy movement. While he's technically a free man, the treatment makes it virtually impossible to keep a job or have a normal home life.
• A quarter century after the movement's suppression, China's communist authorities oversee a raft of measures for muzzling dissent and preventing protests. They range from the sophisticated -- extensive monitoring of online debate and control over media -- to the relatively simple -- routine harassment of government critics and maintenance of a massive domestic security force.
• The system has proven hugely successful: No major opposition movement has gotten even a hint of traction in the 25 years since Tiananmen. President and Communist Party leader Xi Jinping seems intent on ensuring things stay that way.
• "It's extremely bad right now, much worse than in past years," said Yin, who spent several months in prison for his role as a student leader during the 1989 protests. "There's less and less space for civil society or, if you're like me, even to just live your life freely."
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Cleveland officers indicted in chase that ended with deaths of unarmed driver, passenger
• CLEVELAND (AP) -- A nighttime car chase in Cleveland that ended on a schoolyard where more than 100 shots were fired at the suspect's vehicle appeared to be over when an officer opened fire again, a prosecutor said in announcing charges against the patrolman and five police supervisors.
• Cleveland patrol officer Michael Brelo stood on the hood of the suspect's car and fired at least 15 shots through the windshield -- five fatal -- at the two unarmed people inside, Cuyahoga County prosecutor Tim McGinty said Friday.
• McGinty cited a U.S. Supreme Court ruling this week that said police can't fire on suspects after a public safety threat has ended. He said the other officers on the (Continued on page 32)
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