Last Friday, the Chinese communist regime began its annual plenary session of the National People’s Congress.

At the meeting, Premier Wen Jiabao said the regime would, “give particular attention to protecting the public’s legal rights,” according to state-run Xinhua news.

But for petitioners who’ve gathered in Beijing to plea their legal woes, those words may seem far removed from reality.

Hoping to reach the thousands of delegates attending the plenary session, many petitioners have resorted to sending letters personally addressed to high ranking officials, like Wen Jiabao.

Some petitioners say these letters will never be read.

[Petitioner, Beijing]:
“The mailboxes are so full that you can’t put anything in, they’re too full. The petitioners all hope the letters can reach the ‘two meetings’ and all try to send their letters. But the officials won’t even read them. An old man who collects rubbish at Zhongnanhai said the letters are stuffed in bags and burned.”

Petitioners in Beijing are also targets of security forces dispatched throughout the city.

Former military engineer Wang Yun-dong from Lanzhou in central Gansu Province has been petitioning for 11 years. He says Beijing authorities have mobilized many officers to deal with petitioners.

[Wang Yun-dong, Lanzhou Petitioner]:
“There are ten times more officers intercepting petitioners than the number of petitioners at the People’s Liberation Army’s political headquarters. For each petitioner, there are 10 officers. We had a few dozen petitioners here today, but inside there were hundreds of officers intercepting.”

Other petitioners say they have teamed up to fight against the security officers.

[Petitioner, Beijing]:
“Today we fought off three groups of officers. All we want is: down with corruption, down with greedy officials and to have our human rights.”