The title of this post is misleading: The protest is anti government, and pro property rights. For example:
[...] "People can see how corrupt the government is while they barely have enough to eat," said Mr. Yu, reflecting on the uprising that made him an instant proletarian hero
If he was a "proletarian" hero, he would say "the capitalists". Instead he said "the government".
[...]
Last month, as many as 100,000 farmers in Sichuan Province, frustrated by months of fruitless appeals against a dam project that claimed their land, took matters into their own hands. [...]
Gee. They took the defense of their own property rights into their own hands.
"I work like this so that my daughter and son can dress better than I do, so don't look down on me,"
They are rioting for economic mobility, not for a classless society, but for a society where classes are not hereditary.
"I heard him say those exact words," said Wen Jiabao, another porter who says he witnessed the confrontation. "It proves that it's better to be rich than poor, but that being an official is even better than being rich."
The bad guys are not the rich, but those who obtain wealth through poliical power.
Cai Shizhong, a taxi driver, was angered when the authorities created a company to control taxi licenses, which he says cost him thousands of dollars but brought no benefits.
The bad deeds of the bad guys are economic regulation
Peng Daosheng's home was flooded by the rising reservoir of the Three Gorges Dam. He was supposed to receive $4,000 in compensation as well as a new home. But his new apartment is smaller and less well located, and the cash never arrived.
The bad deeds of the bad guys are violation of property rights without fair compensation.
Li Jian, 22, took part in the plunder. A young peasant, he had found a city job as a short-order cook. But he longed to study computers, said his father, Li Wanfa. The family bought an old computer keyboard so the young man could learn typing.
"He wanted to go to high school but the school said his cultural level was not high enough," Mr. Li said. "They said a country boy like him should be a cook."
Again, the call for social mobility, equality of opportunity, not equality.
They did not attack any of the restaurants or department stores along the government square, focusing their wrath on symbols of official power.
A riot against the state, not against the rich.