Chinese Googlers besiege Obama internet page

The Chinese are posting a flood of comments on an internet page devoted to President Barack Obama's re-election campaign after China seemingly lifted long-standing blocks on Google.

What some are calling "Occupy Obama" began early last week when Chinese internet surfers noticed that Google's Plus service was widely accessible, after months of being hard to access or blocked completely. The comments on the Obama campaign's page are mostly in Chinese and reached a torrent in the last few days, drawing complaints from some American users. Most of the comments seemed purely for fun; some asked for green cards. Many were overtly political, calling for the end of Communist Party rule and the freeing of a blind activist, Chen Guangcheng, held captive in his home. "Mr President, we want American freedom," said a posting under the name Zhang Mian.

The internet offers the liveliest platform for communication in China, despite the government's blocking of overseas sites deemed subversive as well as Facebook, Twitter and other social networking services that figured in popular protest movements.

AP