Protesters demand press freedom over censorship row at Southern Weekly

Protesters gathered on Monday at the offices of a Guangdong newspaper at the centre of a censorship row, in a rare public demonstration on the mainland in support of media freedom.

Hundreds of people gathered outside the Southern Weekend's - also known as the Southern Weekly -  offices in Guangzhou, according to online reports, with one banner reading: “We want press freedom, constitutionalism and democracy”.

The demonstration came after censors last Thursday blocked a new year article in the popular liberal newspaper which called for the realisation of a “dream of constitutionalism in China” to protect rights.

All mainland media organisations are subject to instructions from government propaganda departments, which often suppress news seen as negative by the Communist Party, although some publications take a more critical stance.

On Friday a liberal journal’s website was shut down after it published an appeal for leaders to guarantee constitutional rights, including freedom of speech and assembly.

The Beijing-based Annals of the Yellow Emperor, which has links with senior retired Communist officials, had argued in its article that the constitution lays out a road map for political reform.