DATE=6/4/2000 TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT TITLE=CHINA-ANNIVERSARY-PROTESTS (L-ONLY) NUMBER=2-263131 BYLINE=LETA HONG FINCHER DATELINE=BEIJING CONTENT= VOICED AT: INTRO: Chinese authorities have tightened security to prevent citizens from commemorating the anniversary of a violent crackdown on pro-democracy demonstrators eleven years ago. A human rights organization says at least 50 dissidents across China are on a hunger strike and at least eight people are under arrest today (Sunday). VOA's Leta Hong Fincher reports from Beijing on efforts to remember the crackdown in Tiananmen Square. TEXT: Chinese authorities are keeping a tight grip on dissidents and relatives of those killed during the June fourth crackdown in Tiananmen Square eleven years ago. The government calls the pro-democracy movement in 1989 a counter-revolutionary rebellion and has banned all protests related to the crackdown. One veteran pro-democracy activist, Ren Wanding, spoke to V-O-A by telephone in Beijing about being placed under house arrest. ///REN ACT 1 in Chinese, establish and then fade under/// He says on Friday, the authorities came to his house and ordered him not to participate in any activities commemorating the anniversary of the crackdown. He says police will not permit him to go outside until after June 4th. Mr. Ren has spent eleven years in prison for his criticism of the Chinese Communist Party and is one of the only democracy activists in China who is not in exile. ///REN ACT 2 in Chinese, establish and then fade under/// He is calling for the Chinese government to reverse its verdict of the violent crackdown and allow the Chinese people to pay tribute to those who lost their lives. The Information Center for Human Rights and Democracy says dissidents across China are on a 24-hour hunger strike to remember those killed in the government's crackdown. ///LU ACT, in Chinese, establish and then fade under/// The spokesman for the Hong Kong-based human rights group, Lu Siqing, says at least 50 dissidents in Sichuan, Zhejiang, Hebei and Henan provinces are taking part in the hunger strike. Mr. Lu also says at least eight people have been arrested across the country for attempting to commemorate the anniversary. He says three of those arrested were Christian protesters in Beijing planning a gathering at their home. Others have written letters to the government demanding a reversal of the official verdict on the crackdown. Human Rights in China, another human rights group based in New York, says mothers of children killed during the crackdown are launching an on-line petition to the Chinese government on Sunday. The group says Ding Zilin and other Tiananmen Mothers are demanding the right to mourn peacefully in public and the right to accept humanitarian aid from organizations inside and outside China. The mothers have so far identified 160 victims who were killed or disappeared during the crackdown eleven years ago. Amnesty International says 213 people are still in prison for participating in the 1989 pro-democracy protests. (signed) NEB/LHF/PLM 04-Jun-2000 04:09 AM EDT (04-Jun-2000 0809 UTC) NNNN Source: Voice of America .