(TibetanReview.net, Oct20, 2014) – Despite the government’s efforts to censor and distort news about the civil disobedience movement in Hong Kong, which had begun on Sep 28, the turbulence in the Special Administrative Region and its underlying cause has garnered support from people in China, leading to the detention of dozens of them, according to the Mandarin Service of Radio Free Asia (Washington) Oct 16.
The report cited overseas-based Chinese Human Rights Defenders (CHRD) group as saying more than 60 had been detained for openly supporting the movement for universal suffrage in Hong Kong. Of them 23 were being held under criminal detention, three had received administrative sentences, and 35 were being held under some other form of police custody. CHRD collates reports from rights groups inside China.
The report said that in the southern province of Guangdong, located just across Hong Kong, authorities detained four people on Oct 14 on public order charges after they were caught at the border, accused of trying to join the protests in Hong Kong on Sep 30.
Chen Qitang, pen-name Tian Li, was given a 10-day administrative sentence by police in Foshan’s Shunde district soon after the other three activists were detained
Besides, lawyer lawyer Wu Kuiming has said he went to see Foshan-based activist Jia Pin, taken away on Oct 9, in the city’s Nanhai district but he was not allowed because his was a state security police case.
Also, police in Hunan’s Yueyang city were reported to be holding activist Liu Donghui after he traveled to Hong Kong to join the protests. He is accused of “picking quarrels and stirring up trouble.”
Lawyers Yu Wensheng and Song Ze were reported to be under criminal detention in Beijing.
Also, in Beijing’s Songzhuang Artists’ Village, police had detained Tibetan artist Kuang Laowu and Zhang Haiying, CHRD was cited as saying. The group has said a total of 13 people had been detained at Songzhuang for their involvement in a poetry recital in support of the Occupy Central movement in Hong Kong.
CHRD has also quoted local reports as saying Beijing police had also criminally detained writer Kou Yanding, as well as outspoken college professor Chen Kun, Beijing University poetry editor Xue Ye, and Huang Kaiping, a colleague of detained Transition Institute founder Guo Yushan.
Gansu-based rights activist Hou Minling was reported to have been detained at Beijing’s Daxing District Detention Center on Oct 3 after he took part in a pro-Occupy demonstration with fellow activists in Beijing on Oct 1.
Many of the above are being held for allegedly “picking quarrels and stirring up trouble,” a catch-all charge that is frequently used to detain activists and outspoken government critics.
Also, in the northeastern province of Liaoning Province, petitioner Jiang Jiawen was criminally detained on the same charge, also in Daxing District Detention Center, CHRD has said.
Ling Lisha and Zhang Qibin were detained on Oct 2 and are being held under criminal detention at the Beijing No. 1 Detention Center after they posted signs in support of Hong Kong on the campus of Beijing University.
CHRD has also said activist Xie Wenfei was tortured and mistreated in Guangzhou’s Yuexiu District Detention Center. His lawyer Wu Kuiming has been quoted as saying, “Xie’s arms and legs were each shackled eight centimeters away from iron rings, with his legs fastened together, in total for over 100 hours.” He is said to be kept shackled 20 hours each day.