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Chinese activist vows to continue, despite beating

"[The journalist] told me to stay behind. But I insisted I would go with him. I felt that if a foreigner was ready to help the village, then I as a Chinese should do the same."

Lu Banglie, Chinese legislator and civil-rights activist

Chinese legislator and civil-rights activist Lu Banglie (呂邦列), who was savagely beaten last Saturday, said he would not give up his campaign for more democracy in China despite the attack on him.

Lu accused the mayor of Taishi and authorities in Pan Yu Township of running a campaign of violence and intimidation.

"I have seen the ugly side of the government," he told the Guardian at the home of a friend in his home province of Hubei on Tuesday. "I think I will do more to promote democracy. But now I need time to recuperate."

Lu was beaten when he took the Guardian's Shanghai correspondent to Taishi, the focus of a campaign by locals and civil-rights activists to unseat the village chief, who they have accused of corruption. The previous day a gang of hired thugs had assaulted Malaysian journalist Leu Siew Ying from the South China Morning Post and a French reporter, Abel Segretin, from Radio France Internationale.

Lu said on Tuesday that he knew it was dangerous, and that he was used to the violence and intimidation faced by grassroots democracy campaigners. He has been the victim of several beatings since becoming politically active three years ago.

On four occasions he had helped journalists to enter the village and see what was happening. But, he said, he felt the risks on Saturday were greater than usual.

The taxi containing Lu, the Guardian's Benjamin Joffe-Walt, his interpreter and a driver, had been trailed around the outskirts of the village.

"Benjamin insisted that he wanted to go so he could see the real situation in the village. He told me to stay behind. But I insisted I would go with him. I felt that if a foreigner was ready to help the village, then I as a Chinese should do the same," Lu said.

Lu told the Guardian there was nothing anyone could have done to help him.

After the beating ended, Joffe-Walt and the second witness were then forced into a pick-up truck and driven to Yuwutou Township, where they were interrogated by local officials for more than two hours.

Lu said yesterday that he did not regret going into the village that night.

"Actually before I went to Taishi, I anticipated this kind of outcome. I am this kind of person. I know there are tigers in the mountain, but I still go to the mountain."

In the first statement on the incident by the central government, a foreign ministry spokesman, Kong Quan (孔泉), said Lu was "quite safe."

Meanwhile, the Hong Kong Journalists' Association yesterday condemned the beating of Leu and Segretin.

"We are deeply shocked and outraged and strongly condemn the violent behavior," the association said in a letter to Guangdong Governor Huang Huahua (黃華華), calling the act "barbaric and unlawful."

The organization urged Huang to protect the safety of journalists and media freedom. It also called on him to investigate the incident and punish the attackers.

The Chinese foreign ministry made no comment about the attack on the pair but criticized journalists for breaching rules by covering the story. It said investigations showed local police had done nothing wrong.
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