Shanghai petitioner Yang Li was beaten and detained by police on a train, which sparked widespread support from over 200 people demanding his immediate release. The incident was captured on video and circulated online. In the days following, those who signed the joint statement in support received calls from police for interviews and record-keeping.
On April 18, nearly 40 Shanghai petitioners were being sent back to Shanghai on train No. 1461 from Beijing. Yang Li got into a dispute with police escorting them over arranging a sleeper for elderly petitioners, which led to him being beaten and detained. The entire incident was recorded by the petitioners.
Starting on April 24, Shanghai police began calling signatories of the joint statement, instructing them not to share the video and not to “stir up trouble”.
In the evening of the 24th, petitioner Wang Qiuge received a call from the Luo Jingsu Police Station, notifying her to come in for record-keeping. She was not at home at the time and agreed to report to the police station early the next day.
On the morning of the 25th, around 10 o’clock, Wang arrived at the police station as requested. The police accused her of forwarding the video of the fight on train No. 1461 from Beijing to Shanghai on April 18. When Wang asked for evidence, the police claimed it was at the direction of the Shanghai Public Security Bureau, but could not produce the image or text she allegedly shared.
Around 10:35 p.m. on the 24th, petitioner Wan Wenying received a call from the Jiaxing Road Police Station in Hongkou District, instructing her not to distribute the video of the train incident on April 18 and not to sign, citing instructions from the authorities. On the 25th, a police officer (badge number 035861) visited Wan Wenying at her residence.
Wan Wenying told the police officer, “I have personally experienced police violence multiple times. The police used violence to suppress and persecute human rights defenders, threatening everyone to go to the police station for record-keeping and forbidding the disclosure of the assault incident. Can the police abuse power without civilian oversight? In the eyes of the police, is the law merely a suggestion, and their power extends beyond the law?”
Shanghai petitioner Li Xuemei was also harassed by police from the Gaojing Police Station, both in person and over the phone.
She said, “I deeply empathize with the persecution suffered by human rights defender Yang Li. There is no reason for me not to speak out. Injustice towards Yang Li today is injustice towards all human rights defenders, and I cannot stand idly by.”
On the night of the 24th, petitioner Ding Deyuan was taken to the Heqing Police Station for record-keeping.
Ding told the police, “Although I wasn’t present at the time, based on my past experiences, I believe the rumors of Yang Li being beaten and detained to be true. I have also been beaten by police and gangs before.”
The police responded, “Do not spread rumors or believe in them. The internet is not a lawless place.”
Ding fired back, “While the internet is not lawless, you police treat your duties as above the law. Last time, the police from the Heqing Police Station sent me to a detention center for a month without providing any notice of detention and confiscated the release certificate issued by the detention center without due process. Isn’t that making your jurisdiction above the law? When a group of gangsters, under the instruction of the state security, beat me and sent me to a black prison, aren’t they also acting as if their powers transcend the law?”