Shenzhen man detained after posting Occupy Central pictures
A Shenzhen activist has been detained after posting pictures of Hong Kong’s Occupy Central protests on mainland social media, his former lawyer said.
Wang Long has been held in custody in Longgang district for “picking quarrels and provoking trouble”, his former lawyer Fan Biaowen told the South China Morning Post.
Wang, 26, hit the headlines earlier this year after suing his internet service provider China Unicom for blocking access to Google.
Fan said the police told him on Monday night that Wang had been held. Wang’s last Weibo message was posted in the early hours on Monday.
“They [police] told me it [detention] was due to his posting about the demonstration in Hong Kong and his previous engagement in activism,” said Fan.
Wang reposted at least six photos from Twitter and Facebook on Weibo showing thousands of Occupy Central supporters and students protesting against Beijing’s decision to set strict limits on the 2017 Hong Kong elections on Sunday, according to freeweibo.com, a website that documents deleted Weibo posts.
Fan’s law firm had come under pressure from the authorities not to represent Wang in this case. But Fan added that at least two other lawyers have offered to help.
Last month, Wang was forced to attend a “tea session” – code for being questioned by the national security staff – ahead of veteran legal activist Yang Maodong’s trial for “gathering a crowd to disrupt social order”, he told weiquanwang.org, a website that integrated advocates of the mainland activists. Yang is better known by his pen name Guo Feixiong.
Mainland internet users cannot access photo sharing platform Instagram and foreign news websites including Reuters amid the Hong Kong protests. Photos and messages about the demonstrations have been censored on Weibo and WeChat.
Longgang police could not be reached for comment on Wednesday. It is not clear when Wang will be released.
