Chinese lawyers defending a detained blind activist said they were stopped and assaulted by villagers yesterday as they attempted to visit their client's wife at her home.
Beijing lawyer Li Subin said he and his colleague, Li Jinsong, tried to enter Dongshigu village in China's eastern Shandong Province by taxi but were stopped on the road by a group of villagers holding up signs that said "bird flu" and "severe acute respiratory syndrome" -- apparently in an attempt to scare them from entering the village. Neither disease has been reported in the area.
The villagers, between 10 to 20 men and women who would not identify themselves, forced the lawyers and taxi driver from the car, pushed them around, and stole the taxi's license plate, Li said.
The driver apparently injured his arm while trying to recover the plate, he said by mobile phone from Shandong.
The lawyers were on their way to visit the wife of Chen Guangcheng, a prominent activist who has documented villagers' claims of forced abortions.
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