The official Web site of a Hong Kong-based group that tracked worker unrest in China was unavailable to access on Friday, a day after it abruptly announced it would cease operations due to financial issues.
Founded by veteran pro-democracy protest leader Han Dongfang (韓東方) in 1994, China Labour Bulletin (CLB) said on its site on Thursday that it “can no longer maintain operations.”
It said it would dissolve “due to financial difficulties and debt issues,” and would stop updating its Web site, according to an archived Web page seen by Agence France-Presse (AFP).
Photo: AP
Its social media platforms have also been removed.
The Web site monitored the Chinese labor movement from Hong Kong, tracking and mapping worker unrest for three decades, closely watching the biggest labor disputes related to China and documenting worker strikes across the country.
An AFP reporter visited CLB’s office address in Hong Kong on Friday afternoon and saw it closed for business with its sign removed.
The residence’s landlord took the office back at least a month ago, security staff at the scene said.
Before the group shut down, it reposted on social media a report analyzing international workers’ strikes that it had jointly researched.
Its Web site could be accessed as normal on Thursday.
The group’s founder Han was a leading protester and unionist in pro-democracy demonstrations in Beijing in 1989, which eventually turned into a bloody crackdown around Tiananmen Square.
He was jailed for his role in the protests and moved to Hong Kong in the 1990s where he started a decades-long effort to promote and defend Chinese workers’ rights remotely.
Last month, he indicated on social media that he and his team would continue “without ending” their tracking work.
“Let’s keep our faith up at this abnormal time and continue our important work,” he wrote.
However, on Friday he told the Central News Agency the decision to dissolve was made by himself and “due to financial problems,” adding that he would stay in Hong Kong.
Han reportedly declined to answer other questions.
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