China in coup rumor crackdown

Chinese police have arrested six people and shut 16 websites for “fabricating or disseminating online rumors” that military vehicles were on the streets of Beijing, state news agency Xinhua has reported.

The websites, including two popular micro logs, were spreading rumors of “military vehicles entering Beijing and something wrong going on” there fabricated by “some lawless people,” the State Internet Information Office (SIIO) said on Friday.

A spokesman for the SIIO said the rumors had an “a very bad influence on the public.”
He also said a number of other people had been “”admonished and educated.”

The crackdown comes as the communist nation prepares for a once-in-a-decade power transition later this year.

Rumors of a possible coup attempt began to circulate on the internet after top leadership contender Bo Xilai was sacked as head of the mega-city of Chongqing earlier this month.

Bo’s dismissal came amid allegations that his former ally and police chief had tried to seek asylum at a U.S. consulate.
Beijing police urged web users on Friday to be vigilant against online rumors, and the state-owned People’s Daily said in a commentary: “Internet rumors and lies packaged as ‘facts’ will turn conjecture into ‘reality’, stir up trouble online and disturb people’s minds.”

“If allowed to run amok, they will seriously disrupt social order, affect social stability and harm social integrity.”