Chinese labour activist trio face public order charges, told to refuse lawyers, says rights group
- Wu Guijun, Zhang Zhiru and He Yuancheng detained with two others in Shenzhen almost six weeks ago
- Authorities nervous about mobilising of workers struggling to make a living and angry at social inequality, says China Labour Bulletin
At least three prominent labour activists in China have been formally arrested on public order charges, a Hong Kong-based labour rights organisation said, the latest step by Chinese authorities in a rolling crackdown on civil society.
The three – Wu Guijun, Zhang Zhiru and He Yuancheng – had been in detention in the southern city of Shenzhen for more than a month, China Labour Bulletin said.
They learned on Tuesday and Wednesday 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 labour activists to organise workers who are already struggling to make a living and increasingly angry at the gross social inequality they see around them every day,” China Labour Bulletin said in a statement.
It said 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.