China fears Anna effect, closes 6,600 sites

DHARAMSHALA, August 29: While the hugely popular anti-corruption movement led by Indian social worker Anna Hazare forced the parliament to graft stricter anti-corruption laws, the Chinese government Sunday banned 6,600 sites following growing numbers of netizens in China discussing a possible movement in China against corruption.

The ban comes as a result of fear in Beijing of Chinese netizens openly calling for an Anna Hazaretype of revolution in China to battle corruption.

Chinese netizens praised Hazare for bringing thousands onto the streets to jointly fight corruption while drawing a contrast with their home country where anger at corruption is widespread, but protests are rare and not tolerated.

On the microblogging site Sino Weibo a Chinese posted, "when will an anti corruption movement take place in China."

Another user of China’s Twitter equivalent wrote "let us wait for an Anna Hazare to be born in China."

The ministry of industry and information technology (MIIT) said that 6,600 websites in China have been canceled, and many user accounts on the Sino Weibo have been blocked for at least one month following official investigations.

"Banned and blocked because these sites are suspected of spreading rebellious ideas and having a negative influence on the people " he ministry said.

The shut down on public sites was jointly launched by the State Internet Information Office, MIIT, the Ministry of Public Security and the State Administration for Industry and Commerce according to the official Xinhua news agency.