At least three prominent labor activists in China have been formally arrested on public order charges, a Hong Kong-based labor rights organization said.
The three — Wu Guijun (吳貴軍), Zhang Zhiru (張治儒) and He Yuancheng (何遠程) — have been in detention in Shenzhen for more than a month, the China Labour Bulletin said.
The group on Tuesday and Wednesday learned that they were being formally charged with “gathering a crowd to disturb public order,” it said.
“The authorities are clearly nervous about the ability of labor activists to organize workers who are already struggling to make a living and increasingly angry at the gross social inequality they see around them every day,” the group said in a statement.
It was unclear what incident the charges referred to, because the authorities had told Wu and Zhang to decline the services of the lawyers hired by their families, it said, adding that their family members had been harassed and told not to talk to the media about the case.
Shenzhen police did not have an immediate comment when contacted by telephone.
Two other activists were detained on Jan. 20 along with Zhang, He and Wu, the bulletin said.
“Given that they have yet to reappear in public, it is assumed that they have been arrested and charged as well,” it added.
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