A Chinese labor rights group on Saturday said that at least 10 of its supporters were detained by police in several cities across China, in the latest apparent crackdown against its advocates.
Student-led campaigning from China’s top universities has surged in recent years, as young college students rally behind labor rights and unions, despite pressure from universities and police.
The Jasic Workers Solidarity group, which supports workers at welding machinery firm Jasic Technology Co, said that the advocates were detained by police on Friday night.
Photo: Reuters
Five were graduates of Peking University — one of the country’s top-ranked institutions.
One of the graduates, Zhang Shengye (張聖業), was “kidnapped” on the school campus, the group said in its statement.
An eyewitness and Peking University student claimed that more than 10 people in dark-colored clothing beat Zhang before dragging him into a black car.
“They hit him hard and quickly got Zhang under control,” he told reporters, speaking on condition of anonymity.
A few other students who were passing by were also beaten, he said, adding that they were forced to the ground and stopped from taking photos or speaking.
“Peking University acquiesced to the kidnapping — this is another crime universities have committed against progressive students and the leftwing community,” the group said.
In addition to Zhang, four other Peking University graduates went missing on Friday, after police raided homes in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou, the group said.
In Shenzhen, in China’s Guangdong Province, two people who operated a non-profit for young workers, as well as members of their staff, were taken by police as well, the group said.
Three workers who were part of the solidarity group, plus an unspecified number of activists in Guangdong Province, also disappeared in the police sweep, it said.
Reporters could not independently verify the labor group’s claims.
Police in Beijing, Guangzhou, Shenzhen and Shanghai did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
In August, a police raid swept up student activists in Guangdong Province, the group’s official Web site said, adding that police beat students and confiscated their phones.
Yue Xin (岳昕), a Peking University student who coauthored a petition demanding the release of details about a probe into allegations of sexual abuse at the school, has not been heard from since she was detained in the August raid.
Two students from Renmin University of China and Peking University were on Friday also taken away by police for several hours after taking photos in front of an Apple store in Beijing.
The students — a group of 10 in total — were protesting the alleged exploitation of workers at a factory producing Apple Watches in southwestern China.
Apple has said it is investigating the claims.
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