CHINA-INTERNAL: EX-PLA SOLDIERS PROTEST
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Over 1000 retired or demobilised ex-PLA soldiers protested on October 11, 2016, outside the Bayi building in central Beijing, where China's Ministry of National Defence is housed, demanding jobs.Many wore green fatigues bearing the hammer-and-sickle logo of China’s ruling Communist party. Liu Feiyue, Editor of the Minsheng Guancha website, said he had been told by retired soldiers that other ex-soldiers were present. He said “They protested because they don’t have a job now after serving a long period of time in the army, some for a dozen years. They are asking for employment.” It is the largest such protest noticed. The protesting ex-soldiers declined to talk to journalists. The CCP, State Council and CMC said in a statement that they care about veterans and pay high attention to solving their problems. The statement said the Chinese government has drafted preferential policies and measures for veterans and have improved the living conditions of some veterans. It added that in line with the deepening of the reform, the completion of the social security mechanism and the implementation of related polices, the temporary living difficulties of some veterans will gradually be solved.
(Comments: One human rights activist, Huang Qi, has been quoted as saying that veterans had staged more than 50 protests this year.)
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