Blind activist's cousin held for questioning

A cousin of blind activist Chen Guangcheng was taken away by up to 70 riot police yesterday for allegedly being involved in a riot earlier this month.

Chen Guangdong's father, Chen Gengquan, 60, was also taken away as he chased after his son, relatives said.

Police, armed with shields and helmets, arrived in seven vehicles at Dongshigu village in Yunan county, Linyi, in Shandong province at about 11am and left after the pair was arrested, said Yuan Weijing, Chen Guangcheng's wife.

'We are not sure which police division they were from. But I know that some of them were from the Yunan county police station. I saw them the last time they arrested Guangcheng [in September],' she said.

Xu Xifeng, the 34-year-old wife of Chen Guangdong, said police took away her husband without explanation. It was still unclear where the father and son were being held.

But nephew Chen Hua said Li Xuejun, a police officer from the Yunan County Public Security Bureau, told him yesterday that Chen Guangdong was held because he had been identified as having taken part in the protest on February 4, when villagers pushed two government vehicles and a police car into a ditch and smashed the windows.

Mr Li denied any knowledge of the police deployment and said Chen Guangdong was only taken away to assist investigations.

Meanwhile, Shanghai authorities had detained three activists to prevent them from travelling to Beijing to protest against the case of jailed lawyer Zheng Enchong, relatives said.