"Ye Haiyan, the feminist activist known as “Hooligan Sparrow,” has made waves before, but nothing that has caught fire on Chinese social media like her recent campaign. After a school principal and government official were caught with six underage pupils in a hotel room earlier this month, she posted a picture of herself on Sina Weibo holding a sign that said: ““School principal: Get a room with me [if you need to]. Let go of the students!”
The meme quickly took off, with dozens of Chinese internet users posting similar pictures, including artist Ai Wei Wei...."
http://qz.com/89722/protesting-is-taboo-in-china-even-if-its-against-child-abuse/
UPDATE 6/3/13:
Chinese police refuse to release activist who campaigned against child abuse
"Nicholas Bequelin, senior Asia researcher at Human Rights Watch, said: "The whole thing looks like a set-up so they could detain her for 15 days."
"He added: "There is a history of using proxies to unlawfully assault human rights defenders. There is a long history of lawyers or activists being attacked by 'thugs' or 'gangsters' in fact acting at the behest of the government.
"She is the victim here: she was attacked and she documented what was happening. If police have convincing evidence showing otherwise they should come forward with it. The fact she is now detained seems to be a transparent ploy to silence her on the issue of sexual assault of school children."
"He said he regarded it as an assault on women's rights in general given how prominent and vocal Ye was as a campaigner...."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/jun/03/chinese-police-activist-child-abuse-ye-haiyan
UPDATE 6/7/13:
Detention of Critic of Child Abuse Draws Ire in China
"And currently there is intense interest among ordinary Chinese over Ms. Ye’s fate; activists have launched a campaign for people to send police postcards supporting Ms. Ye, and post online photos of themselves holding up the postcards. Some have posted online photographs of themselves with copies of Ms. Ye’s sign, including the dissident Ai Weiwei (who wrote the words on his belly.)...
"Here’s how Frontline Defenders, a human rights NGO that has issued an appeal for her, described the incident in Ms. Ye’s home last week: “In an effort to defend herself and her daughter she used a knife to drive her attackers away, reportedly injuring three of them in the process. Shortly thereafter she was taken into custody by police and is being detained on suspicion of ‘causing intentional injury’.”...
Short on time? Use our Category Search page.
Comments (0)