Update | Journalist Xiao Shu held after calling for activist Xu Zhiyong's release
Veteran mainland journalist Xiao Shu was taken by police from a Beijing restaurant yesterday - in an apparent effort to halt his campaign for the release of legal activist Xu Zhiyong .
"[Xiao Shu] told me in a WeChat message around 2pm that home security officers were taking him out of Beijing," said Wang Gongquan , a businessman from Beijing.
He told me if he didn't call on Friday, it would mean that they had taken him away
Xiao Shu, who real name is Chen Min, is a former columnist with the outspoken Southern Weekly. He now writes for Yanhuang Chunqiu, a magazine known for pushing the boundaries in its calls for political reform.
On Wednesday, Xiao Shu, Wang and liberal economist Mao Yushi started a signature campaign calling on authorities to release Xu, a law lecturer at Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications who was detained last month.
Xu, like Xiao Shu, is among the most prominent proponents of the New Citizen movement, which seeks more government transparency and more respect for rights guaranteed in the constitution. Wang said that Xiao Shu was informed yesterday evening that officers would take him "to lunch" at a Xueyuan Street restaurant, in Beijing's university district.
"He said there is no way to get out of it, so he made preparations," Wang said. "He told me if he didn't call on Friday, it would mean that they had taken him away."