Chinese Police Detain Labour Activists

Chinese police have detained three more labour rights supporters, an activist group said, in a crackdown on a workers movement that drew in students fired by an official call to return to Marxism.

The Jasic Workers Solidarity group said police in the central city of Wuhan “violently arrested” three of its members on Sunday, with one of them pinned to the ground by at least three officers.

That follows Friday’s police raids on the homes of at least 10 activists who were detained in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou, including students from some of China’s top universities, the group had said earlier.

Jasic Workers Solidarity rose to prominence this summer when student activists threw support behind efforts to form a workers’ union at Chinese welding machinery company Jasic Technology in southern Guangdong province to agitate for better working conditions.

That triggered police raids in August that swept up a number of the group’s members and student activists, according to Jasic Workers Solidarity, which said some of those detained were beaten.

The three latest reported detentions in Wuhan included a member of the solidarity group and a graduate of Renmin University, one of China’s top schools.

A video which accompanied the labour group’s statement showed a person held to the ground by several men dressed in black.

AFP could not independently verify the group’s claims or the video.

Chinese police have not responded to requests for comment.

Peking University confirmed to AFP that graduate student Zhang Shengye was among those taken away on Friday, but declined to give further details.

Another Peking University student, Yu Tianfu — who said he had witnessed Zhang’s arrest and was himself tackled Friday night by masked men in black — has subsequently gone missing and his account on Chinese social media deactivated, classmates posted on social media.

AFP