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Police detain labour activist in southern China: wife
BEIJING, March 21, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – A labour activist has been detained by
police in southern China, his wife said Thursday, amid a crackdown on
students and activists advocating for worker rights.
Wei Zhili, 30, an editor at a Chinese labour rights media site, was
apprehended Wednesday by police in Guangzhou, southern Guangdong province,
for “disturbing public order”, his wife and prominent feminist Zheng Churan
told AFP.
“I and his parents are very worried,” Zheng told AFP over the phone. “I am
very afraid that the police will use abusive methods to force him to admit
that he did something wrong.”
Her husband’s colleague, Ke Chengbing, is also feared to be under police
custody, as he has been unreachable for nearly 24 hours, according to rights
groups.
Citing Wei’s parents, who were present when her husband was detained, Zheng
said police told them their son had been “brainwashed” into helping workers
and that they were taking him away to “educate” him, without specifying
where.
They also searched his parents’ home, where Wei had been staying, and took
away his laptop and cellphone, she added.
Police in Shenzhen and Guangzhou did not immediately respond to AFP’s
request for comment.
The detention of another labour activist comes as Chinese authorities take
an uncompromising line against efforts to protect worker rights in Guangdong,
the epicentre of China’s hi-tech manufacturing sector.
Last August, a police raid swept up a group of student activists
supporting efforts to form a workers’ union at Chinese welding machinery
company Jasic Technology in Guangdong.
Several of them, including Yue Xin, a Peking University graduate who became
known after co-authoring a petition demanding details of a sexual abuse case
at the school, have not been heard from since.
According to Zheng, her husband had also been in touch with workers from
central Hunan province, specifically those suffering from pneumoconiosis, a
type of lung disease they contracted while working in Shenzhen due to unsafe
working conditions.
“It does seem that the authorities now are even more concerned about civil
society labour activists,” said Geoffrey Crothall, spokesman at the Hong
Kong-based China Labour Bulletin.
“I think it is a concerted effort to really clamp down on a broad range of
civil society actors who are supporting legitimate worker protests,” he told
AFP.
“That, of course, is completely counterproductive,” he said. “It’s not
going to stop workers from going out on protests or staging strikes or
demonstrations — that still happens every day across the whole country.”
BSS/AFP/RY/13:05 hrs