Rights violation: poLICE kidnap Chinese activists ahead of newspaper protest

Chinese authorities have detained some activists in the southern city of Guangzhou to try to derail a protest planned for Tuesday to commemorate a strike by reporters at an outspoken newspaper, several activists said.

The clampdown comes on the first anniversary of a rare newsroom strike at the Southern Weekly over censorship, which some experts say was the trigger for tighter controls on Chinese media in the past year under President Xi Jinping.

At least three activists contacted by Reuters said they would not join the protest after being warned by police.

"In recent days, those who were planning to mark the anniversary were either asked to meet (police), warned, put under house detention, forced to go on holiday ... or were detained," said Wu Wei, also known by his pen-name Ye Du, the Guangzhou-based deputy head of the Independent Chinese Pen Center, which campaigns for freedom of expression in China.

Security was tight outside the gates of the Southern Media Group, which owns the Southern Weekly, with at least eight police vans and jeeps parked outside, and scores of uniformed and plainclothes police patrolling the area.

Police at the scene declined to comment.

More: http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/01/07/us-china-media-idUSBREA0606320140107

Rights violation: poLICE kidnap Chinese activists ahead of newspaper protest

Rights violation: poLICE kidnap Chinese activists ahead of newspaper protest

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