NO-HEADLINE

Seven years after the massacre in Tiananmen Square, a handful of brave individuals are still willing to try to stand up to the might of the Chinese government. But they still come up against the intolerance of a government which permits no dissent. Yesterday, it emerged that seven activists from Zhejiang, one of China's rich eastern provinces, had sent a petition to the National People's Congress demanding freedom for political prisoners and political reforms, including freedom of speech, and also seeking a complete accounting and investigation of the massacre.

Those who signed the open letter had all been imprisoned after June 1989, and later released. They included Wang Donghai, 45, a department store manager. The petition was dated 27 May; according to relatives, public security officers came to the family's house just one day later and Mr Wang is now in police custody. According to the South China Morning Post, a second petition has been signed by 31 relatives of people killed in the 1989 massacre.