The Chinese authorities have detained this month a young man to deploy pro-democracy banners during a Viaduct in Chengdu in southwest China-a rare form of public protest which is punishable by criminal offense, said two sources at Radio Free
The authorities investigate the question of whether Mei Shilin, 27, had links abroad and took criminal detention measures against him, said that the two sources, who spoke under the guise of anonymity fearing reprisals.
The exact date of his detention was not immediately clear, sources said.
In China, criminal detention measures for people suspected of “endangering national security” generally mean being owned by police for months until formal accusations are deposited – officially known as residential surveillance in a designated location. Inmates are facing constant surveillance, interrogations and can be subjected to torture.
The sources have said that Mei is a resident of the city of Youngfu in the county of Muluan of the Sichuan province and that he has disappeared for more than 10 days.
The authorities arrested him shortly after being identified as behind the three banners displayed on a bridge outside the Chadianzi bus station in Chengdu on April 15, they said.
The three banners read: “Without reform of the political system, there will be no national rejuvenation”, “The people do not need a political party with a powerless power” and “China only needs no one underlines management, democracy is management.”
One of the two sources, Qin de Chengdu, said that if Mei had been discovered by investigators abroad, he would be given to the State Security Office and transferred to the detention center of the municipal security office.
“If no substantial evidence of collusion with foreign forces is found, it will be managed by the Chengdu police,” added Qin, who wanted to be identified by a single name for security reasons.
Legal experts believe that the authorities can accuse me of “choosing quarrels and provoking problems” – a common criminal accusation in China that the authorities get up against defenders of political, civilian and human rights.
“They (the accusation) can deposit a case for the crime to choose quarrels and to cause problems because they do not want to give it a more glorious accusation, as encouraging the subversion of the power of the state or the subverting of the power of the State,” said Lu Chenyuan, a legal expert in China, to RFA.
“They are now more likely to depoliticize (the Mei Shilin affair) and want to reduce its political meaning,” added Lu.
“Peng Lifa du Sichuan”
However, the incident – which prompted Chinese Internet users to greet mei as “Peng Lifa du Sichuan” – made the authorities very nervous, sources told RFA on Monday.
Peng Lifa, known as “Bridge Man”, had hung similar pro-democracies banners on the occupied Site-Sitong bridge in Beijing, the slogans that were chanted during white paper demonstrations in 2022.
During the demonstrations of the White Paper, which took place in several cities of China, people showed virgin sheets of paper to symbolize that the authorities gave them no voice in the middle of the anger of the loss of freedom and pandemic locking.
“During the last half-house, the domestic security office and the traffic police throughout Chengdu public security system were very nervous. They are afraid that another incident will occur, then the head of the Public Security Office will have to leave his job, “said Qin.
The second source of Chengdu, Yang, who also asked to be identified by a single name, confirmed that Mei had been arrested by the police and that he had previously asked for help from the authorities for a labor dispute, but in vain.
“He (Mei) has already worked in a technological company in Chengdu,” said Yang.
“He (Mei) was treated unjustly in a work dispute, and when he complained to the government to get help, he was ignored. Such things are really common,” added Yang.
The former head of the Chinese government and dissident abroad of WEN and a social media social account “@yesterdaybigcat”, who publishes information on the demonstrations in China, also confirmed that Mei was behind the banners who hung at a bridge near the third road exchanger of Chadianzi in the Jinniu de Chengdu district.
Due wrote on X that Mei had sent him a short 13 second video, as well as photos and a copy of his identity card on the day of the incident.
Mei also wrote to Du saying that he had prepared these slogans for over a year and hoped to have help to broadcast the message.
On April 15, an eminent citizen journalist who manages x account @whyyoutouzhele, also known as “M. Li is not your teacher, ”received a message, similar to that of, as well as photos of the banners, which he published on the platform early in the morning.
At the end of the evening, the same X account confirmed that the man who had shared the information with him had been contactless for more than 1 p.m.
“The last thing he wanted to transmit to the public through us is that he hoped that democracy could be achieved as soon as possible,” Li wrote in this follow -up position on the same day.
Due declared that in his correspondence with Mei, he had urged her to leave China but Mei had insisted to stay.
Mei believed that as Chinese, he faced injustice, “and he wants to cry, even if he is torn,” said.
Mei’s display of pro-democracy banners in Chengdu advanced Chinese social media and incident publications were quickly blocked and deleted when shared on WeChat.
“With these three enormous banners, Mei expressed a reform of demand (for) of the political system … such emotional expressions have been quite common in recent years,” said Yang.
Yang said the atmosphere of sub-press in China meant that young people questioned society and expressed dissatisfaction with the political system.
Rights activists and local Chinese sources also said that Mei’s protest was a sign of a latent desire for change.
Published by Tenzin Pema and Mat Pennington.