2015-06-05
Paramilitary guards walk up steps leading to Tiananmen Square in Beijing a day before the 26th anniversary of the crackdown on pro-democracy protests, June 3, 2015.
AFP
Chinese authorities have detained a number of activists across the country in recent days for online comments and activities linked to the 26th anniversary of the June 4, 1989 crackdown on the student-led democracy movement.
Authorities in the northern port city of Tianjin detained rights activist Wang Jian on Wednesday after he made comments related to the anniversary online.
“They detained him at around 8 p.m. on June 3 without any formalities,” Wang’s friend Wang Liang told RFA on Friday. “The family is now waiting for a special delivery letter detailing the reasons for his detention.”
He said Wang’s wife had been told by police at the local police station on Friday that her husband had already been formally arrested.
“I think [they could do this quickly] because his status was out on bail,” Wang Liang added.
Wang Liang said Wang Jian had written a post commemorating the June 4 massacre “some time ago.”
“I know he wrote a post a while back, but I don’t know if it was published,” he said. “But he did write on that topic.”
Wang was initially detained on suspicion of “picking quarrels and stirring up trouble,” then released on bail on March 13 after he showed support of Suzhou evictee Fan Mugen.
He was later redetained for continuing his activism in support of Fan, and held for a 10-day administrative sentence.
Wang Jian’s wife, Lu Xiaoqing, said she still hasn’t received the letter, however.
“They said he had been formally arrested on June 3,” Lu said. “I asked them the reason, and they didn’t tell me. They just said … it had already gone to the prosecution.”
‘Disturbing public order’
In the southwestern region of Guangxi, veteran Lu Hengxian was jailed by Nanning police on a 10-day administrative sentence after he began a hunger strike with dozens of other dissidents to mark Thursday’s anniversary of the June 4, 1989 bloodshed.
Lu’s wife, who gave only her surname Liang, said he was held on suspicion of “making trouble, and disturbing public order.”
Lu had planned to lead more than a dozen fellow activists in a 24-hour symbolic hunger strike to remember those who died when the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) used machine guns and tanks to put an end to weeks of student-led mass protests and hunger strikes on Tiananmen Square.
“He was placed under administrative detention today,” Liang said on Friday. “They came round and searched our home yesterday, at around 8:40 p.m.”
“Four people came, and they took away a computer and a video camera,” she said.
And in the central city of Wuhan, 1989 democracy movement veteran Zhang Yi was taken away by police after he arranged to meet with friends for a meal to mark the anniversary.
