Former Boxun reporter among those arrested in Beijing for supporting Occupy Central

On the afternoon of Thursday, October 2, 2014, police from the Fengtai district in Beijing arrested Xu Chongyang, who has sued city police many times for their persecution of him. During his latest arrest, police also seized his home computer, video camera and other things. At 1 a.m. on Friday, October 3, he was formally arrested for suspicion of creating a disturbance and admitted to the detention center (the below photo is of him being arrested).

Just a few days before his arrest, Xu Chongyang had participated in a September 29, 2014 demonstration in which signs supporting protesters in Hong Kong were displayed.

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So far at least 57 people have been arrested in Beijing for supporting demonstrators in Hong Kong. Even Xu Chongyang’s landlord, Zhang Junhua, has been arrested and charged with creating a disturbance.

China is now holding the fourth plenum of the 18th Chinese Communist Party Congress. Its main theme is “rule by law.” The arbitrary arrests clearly contradict Chinese authorities’ stated aspirations to the rule of law.

Xu Chongyang was arrested secretly and tortured in 2011.  Xu was sentenced to 19 months.

(Copy editor’s note: It appears that Xu Chongyang is the man at the far left of the front row in the photo above. Can anyone translate into English what the signs say?)