As Tiananmen anniversary nears, Chinese reportedly turn up heat on dissidents

May 27, 1998 Web posted at: 12:23 a.m. EDT (0423 GMT)

HONG KONG (Reuters) - China has stepped up a crackdown on dissidents ahead of the ninth anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre, a Hong Kong-based human rights group said on Wednesday.

The Information Center of Human Rights & Democratic Movement in China said two dissidents in the eastern city of Qingdao were seized from their homes by police on Saturday.

The two were still in detention, which the center said was related to the anniversary of the bloody crackdown on the student-led pro-democracy movement in Beijing in 1989.

Hundreds of demonstrators are known to have died in the June 4 massacre, although some dissidents have put the death toll at thousands.

The Information Center also said an activist in the pro-democracy movement died last month after a brain hemorrhage in a prison in the Chinese capital. Lu Hongzao, 40, had been sentenced to 14 years in prison for his involvement in the Tiananmen Square protest.

The group added that police last week detained prominent dissident Dai Xuezhong, who planned to mark the anniversary in a Shanghai city park. Dai was later released.