Activists held, questioned by police after commemorating Tiananmen crackdown
At least six people interviewed by the authorities over a gathering ahead of the 25th anniversary of the suppression of the pro-democracy protests in Beijing in 1989
PUBLISHED : Tuesday, 06 May, 2014, 1:26pm
UPDATED : Tuesday, 06 May, 2014, 1:52pm
Verna [email protected] Keith [email protected]
Lawyer Pu Zhiqiang is in a detention centre in Beijing. Photo: SCMP Pictures
A prominent human rights lawyer in China has been placed under criminal detention and at least five other people taken away for questioning after they took part in an event commemorating the anniversary of the crackdown on pro-democracy protests in Tiananmen Square in 1989.
Pu Zhiqiang is in a detention centre in Beijing after he was accused of “picking quarrels and provoking trouble”, said his friend and rights lawyer Si Weijiang.
At least 15 people – scholars, activists and relatives of the victims killed in the Tiananmen crackdown – attended the gathering at a private home in Beijing on Saturday.
According to a statement released after the event, they called for an official investigation into the suppression of the pro-democracy movement and urged the authorities to compensate victims.
Pu, who took part in the Tiananmen protests as a student in 1989, was summoned by the police late on Sunday, according to Twitter messages posted by rights activist Hu Jia.
Police searched his home on Monday afternoon and took his mobile phones, computers and some books, the posts said. His mobile phone went unanswered on Tuesday.
Under mainland law, police can hold people for up to 30 days in criminal detention before deciding whether to pass the case to prosecutors.
The authorities suppress commemorations of the Tiananmen crackdown every year in the run-up to its anniversary on June 4, detaining activists or placing them under house arrest.
Among those detained after the gathering on Saturday were the liberal scholar Xu Youyu who was summoned by the police on Monday afternoon for questioning, said lawyer Mo Shaoping.
His current circumstances are unclear, said Mo.
Cyber activist Liu Di was questioned by the police on Sunday morning and was taken away on Monday night, her lawyer Shang Baojun said.
Liberal scholar Hao Jian, dissident writer and Christian leader Hu Shigen and former lecturer Liang Xiaoyan were also taken away by police for interrogation either on Sunday night or Monday, Shang said.
Shang said he was worried about their fates as people summoned by the police should by law be released within 24 hours.
“They have all been taken away for more than 24 hours – it’s not a good sign,” he said.
Qin Hui, a historian at the prestigious Tsinghua University and one of the country’s most prominent public intellectuals, said on Tuesday he and another Tsinghua scholar, Guo Yuhua, had also been questioned over the seminar, but were not detained.
He said he told police that whatever one’s view on the Tiananmen crackdown, it was not an “uprising” as it was labelled by the authorities 25 years ago.
The government regarded the weeks of peaceful protests by students and workers in 1989 to have been a “counter-revolutionary uprising” but in subsequent years toned down its rhetoric to describe it as an “upheaval”.
“One thing that is certain is that it’s not an uprising, even the authorities don’t say that now, so things should be changed: you can’t handle it like this,” Qin said.
The group Chinese Human Rights Defenders said the authorities’ handling of the gathering over the weekend was “particularly chilling”.
“This year’s significant quarter-century anniversary will no doubt see tighter restrictions than ever on rights to peaceful assembly, association, and expression,” said Renee Xia, the group’s international director.
“The Chinese government’s attempt to silence any expression about Tiananmen is a continuation of its 25-year policy to shelter those responsible for the massacre from accountability.”
