A labor activist has been detained by police in southern China, his wife said yesterday, amid a crackdown on students and activists advocating for workers’ rights.
Wei Zhili (危志立), 30, an editor at a Chinese labor rights media site, was apprehended on Wednesday by police in Guangzhou for “disturbing public order,” his wife and prominent feminist Zheng Churan (鄭楚然) said.
“I and his parents are very worried,” Zheng said over the telephone. “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 (柯成冰), is also feared to be under police custody, as he has been unreachable for nearly 24 hours, rights groups said.
Citing Wei’s parents, who were present when her husband was detained, Zheng said that 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.
Zheng said that her husband had also been in touch with workers from Hunan Province, specifically those with 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 labor activists,” China Labour Bulletin spokesman Geoffrey Crothall said. “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.”
“That, of course, is completely counterproductive,” he added. “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.”
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