BreakingActivists converge on Shandong city to demand investigation into death in custody

Scores of activists from around China have been converging on a town in the eastern province of Shandong during the Lunar New Year holiday to demand an investigation into the death of the father of a fellow activist at a government building.

Activists are pointing to the outpouring as a sign of resilience in their movement despite a recent spate of court convictions cracking down on rallies by fellow members of loosely knit grassroots groups. They estimate 60 to 100 activists have gone to the city of Qufu during a period usually devoted solely to family reunions.

“More of us should move from the internet to real life and show the power we have as citizens,” Yang Chong, an activist who travelled from Guangzhou to Qufu for the rally, said in a telephone interview.

The Qufu gathering was triggered by the sudden death of Xue Fushun, the father of Xue Mingkai, a dissident who has been jailed twice for his opposition to China’s one-party rule.

Friends and supporters say the elder Xue went to the prosecutors’ office building in Qufu to argue for his freedom after local authorities kept him and his wife detained in a guesthouse – a common tactic to quell dissent by also targeting the relatives of dissidents. He fell to his death from the building’s fourth floor on January 29.

Police ruled the incident a suicide and declined to investigate the death further. The family’s lawyers and supporters say the death is suspicious and are demanding an unbiased investigation.

“He was seeking freedom from state security, and how on earth would he want to kill himself?” Beijing-based rights lawyer Jiang Tianyong said.