DPA
June 15, 2006

Fu Xiancai yesterday vowed to continue his fight on behalf of people displaced for the Three Gorges dam, and appealed for help with paying for vital surgery.

Beijing: A paralysed Chinese activist, who was beaten after campaigning on behalf of displaced residents from the Three Gorges Dam area, yesterday vowed to continue his fight and appealed for help with paying for vital surgery. Fu Xiancai’s neck was broken in an attack from behind by unknown assailants on June 8, shortly after a discussion with local police about his interviews with foreign media. Speaking by telephone from his hospital bed in Yichang city, in the central province of Hubei, Fu said he did not regret his long campaign for residents who say they were cheated out of compensation and housing when they were resettled from the Three Gorges area. "I will continue to sue (the local government), and fight with the corrupt officials as long as I am alive," he said. "After I am cured, I will continue to contact the foreign media," he said. Fu is paralysed from the neck down and his father said he was holding the telephone for him. Doctors said they wanted to operate on Friday but only if Fu’s family can first pay 30,000 yuan ($3,750), Fu said. "At first they asked for 60,000 yuan, now they say ‘if you do not have 60,000 yuan at least you have to pay 30,000 yuan,’" he said. "I do not have money now, so the operation cannot be conducted." "My neck is broken. I can only lie on the bed and cannot move. My legs and arms do not have any feeling." Fu said he hoped media attention to his plight would encourage people to make donations to help him pay for surgery.