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Chinese Activist Detained After Calling on Xi to Resign

Verna Yu

   HONG KONG - Prominent Chinese legal academic and activist Xu Zhiyong,
   who has urged President Xi Jinping to step down over China's major
   crises including the coronavirus epidemic, has been detained by
   authorities in South China, activists said Monday.

   His detention is the latest in a crackdown on free speech as China
   maneuvers to control the narrative on the growing coronavirus epidemic.

   Activists said police on Saturday arrested Xu Zhiyong, a former law
   professor known for founding the New Citizens Movement social campaign,
   while he was staying at the home of a lawyer in the southern Chinese
   city of Guangzhou.

   The lawyer, Yang Bin, her husband and son were also detained by police
   for hiding Xu but were released Sunday evening, the activists said.

   Police declined to comment by phone on Monday.

   Xu has been on the run from state security police since December, after
   the police started rounding up participants of a secret gathering in
   the southeastern city of Xiamen in Fujian province. Xu was among some
   20 activists and human rights lawyers attending.

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