This week marked 18 years since Chinese troops opened fire on student protestors in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square.

And while the government continues to maintain its silence about Tiananmen, they’re finding it harder to suppress information about present-day protests.

In a country where media and information is tightly controlled, mobile phones and the internet are becoming virtual hubs for people wanting to organise and find out about protests.

But what does this mean in a country where most forms of political dissent are strongly discouraged?

Beijing correspondent, Elise Potaka has this report.

This video posted on the website Youtube shows crowds of people in the southern city of Xiamen marching and protesting against the construction of a new chemical plant.

Word of the demonstration spread through online bulletin boards, and SMS.

And on the day, with a domestic media blackout, bloggers and those calling themselves “citizen reporters� sent out live updates using their mobile phones.

“8:52 am. About 500 armed police are circling around. Old women are yelling: “reject pollution, protect Xiamen!� A large group of people has gathered at the Xiamen municipal government buildings, and entered. A large red banner has been pulled out.�

“9:02am. The crowd has pushed forward five meters. The crowd is gathered about ten meters to the right of the city government gates, police are lined up three rows deep, refusing to budge.�

These reports were posted up on a Chinese blog as the protest took place.
When this blog’s host server went down in the afternoon, another site was quickly set up.

And it seems attempts by authorities to shut down mobile phone networks in the area and censor websites did little to stop the flow of information.

Zola, who describes himself as a citizen reporter, was one of those at the protest sending live updates.

“Mobile phones, phone pictures and video sharing websites make it much easier for people to gain information. It’s much harder for the government to intervene, for example, in a demonstration, or to try and block people sending news.�

The kind of public organization and reporting seen in Xiamen, and the fact that the protest ended peacefully, has given some people faith that technology can bring about greater freedom.

For Zola, it’s about the right to information.

“It is much more convenient to transmit information; there is nothing which can control what people say and what people do. I think all these technologies will help to develop greater freedom in the media world.�

But Xiamen is not a one off phenomenon. In the last few weeks, footage and reports from two other protests were posted on the internet.

In the first case, locals from Guangxi province rioted and burned government property to protest the enforcement of the one child family planning policy.

Photos and reports were sent to online bulletin boards.

In the second case, students in Anhui province demonstrated after their university changed the course title on their diplomas.

Footage of students blocking a street, and a vandalised police station was posted on the Chinese video-sharing site Tudou.

These protests are just some of the thousands of protests which take place in China every year.

The government in its own statistics says there are tens of thousands of “mass incidents� annually, a term which includes protests, riots, public petitions.

This has all led some analysts to suggest that the Chinese government’s power is under threat.

But well known Hong Kong blogger, Roland Soong, is critical of such speculation.

He says the definition of a mass incident is too ambiguous in. On his blog he writes:

“For example, when two gangs clash in a disco and the fight spills into the street, it has nothing to do with human rights violation even though it is a “mass incident” or “public order disturbance” of some sort.â€?

What’s also uncertain at the moment is how the government will react if there is a sudden increase in the amount of protests organized via online message boards or SMS.

And whether those reporting from these events are likely to face government suppression.

Citizen reporter, Zola, plays down concerns.

“I think there will be trouble if I do things in an inappropriate way. But so far I don’t think I have made anyone unhappy.�

Back in the city of Xiamen, the local government is now considering scrapping the chemical plant.

However the mayor says the decision will be based on a response to the findings of a new impact study, not a result of last week’s protests.