China Activist Unreachable After Announcing Fast
by REUTERS | The New York Times
February 8, 2006
BEIJING (Reuters) - A Chinese civil rights campaigner who was assaulted by thugs this week was unreachable and appeared to have gone missing on Wednesday after announcing plans to stage a hunger strike outside Beijing's leadership compound.
Yang Maodong's activism set him on a collision course with the Communist Party, which has tightened its grip on power and intensified crackdowns on rights campaigners, lawyers, journalists and academics.
Yang, who goes by the pen name of Guo Feixiong, did not tell his closest friends beforehand of his plans to begin a two-day hunger strike outside the front door of the Zhongnanhai leadership compound on Wednesday, AIDS activist Hu Jia said by telephone.
Security is tight round-the-clock in and around Zhongnanhai -- China's political heart -- with uniformed soldiers standing guard at the entrance, plainclothes patrolling the area, police vans parked on the sidewalk and surveillance cameras perched on its walls.
Yang's cell phones were turned off on Wednesday.
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Human Rights
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He's still missing? The reason is quite understandable, right?