Very breaking news, but Chinese citizen reporter Zhou “Zuola” Shuguang has just tweeted his own detention as it was happening on Wednesday afternoon China time.
(As of 17:15, Zuola was back at his computer; he seems to have been placed under some sort of ‘town arrest’. Updates below)
Zuola recently bought a Blackberry 8320 to help him with his citizen reporting endeavors, and he appears to have been able to use it along with Twitterberry to send out a few short messages as he was being escorted from his home into a vehicle and driven off:
15:52:
煤炭坝长沙矿业集团的保卫处刘处长带了三个人来接我回煤炭坝镇。吓坏我父母了。
@
zuola: Head of security at Meitanba Mining Group Director Liu w/ 3 others taking me now back to Meitanba Village, scared my parents.
16:02
我被要求上他们的车，我要父母确认今天的事实，记住何时何地跟睡接触，坐什么车牌走了。我很好，在他们车内，感觉象是被截访。
@
zuola: I've been made to get into their car. I want my parents to confirm what has happened today, what time and place and w/ who, the license plate number of the car I was taken away in. I'm fine, in their car, it feels a bit like I'm being intercepted.
16:08
上午借口来找计划生育违归的俩人同保卫处长一起来的，果然是冲我来的。
@
zuola: The two people who came this morning under the pretense that I'd violated the one child policy are here with Security Dir. Liu now. Turns out they've forced me to go with them.
16:28
谢谢所有关心我的人，我还在车上。
@
zuola: Thank you everyone for your attention. I'm still in the vehicle.
Earlier this morning Zuola tweeted that he wouldn't be online today as he was being visited by “government people”: two from the birth planning office (mentioned above) following up on a report that he had violated China's one-child policy (Zuola has no children) and two to see take his parents out for “tea” and a chat.
Last month Zuola mentioned on his blog feeling nervous about being in Beijing for the Olympics as he had planned, and decided it better to sit it one out and return home to Meitanba, Hunan province. Prior to that he got busted in Shenyang just following the Yilishen incident, where he had traveled to do some citizen reporting for his blog.
Updates hopefully coming soon.
Updates:
17:16
我被长沙矿业集团保卫处刘处长把我从枫木桥接回煤炭坝了。他们要求我呆在煤炭坝就不管我，我一出去他们就要把我弄回来。我声明，我不是长沙矿业集团的员工，我爸在这个单位的前身退休13年了。
@
zuola: Changsha Mining Group Security Director Liu has taken me from Fengmuqiao back to Meitanba. They've demanded that I stay in Meitanba and that if I do, they'll leave me alone. If I leave, they'll bring me back. I stated that that I am not an employee of Changsha Mining Group, although my dad was until he retired from there 13 years ago.
17:20
我坐湘A94360回煤炭坝的，车上刚才四个人。
@
zuola: I'm in vehicle 湖A 94369 on the way back to Meitanba, there were four people in the vehicle just now.
17:23
看来是宁乡县国保大队、长沙矿业集团、枫木桥乡政府联合行动，工作效率还蛮高。先侦知我的手机离开煤炭坝镇区域，然后让枫木桥乡政府打前哨，再通知长沙矿业集团保卫处开车来接人，把我送回煤炭坝就完事了。
@
zuola: It seems they were a joint task force from the Ningxia
Guobao squad, Changsha Mining Group, Fengmuqiao Village government, pretty effective work. First they checked to see that my mobile phone had left the Meitanba area, then they sent Fengmuqiao government people to stand guard, later notifying the Changsha Mining Group Security Division to drive over and pick me up, and take me back to Meitanba, and that was it.
17:25
声明一下，除了我被强行要求我坐他们的车回煤炭坝之外，我现在的人身是自由的。不过，我希望有记者来长沙陪我去北京，那样会让他们不知所措，估计会是一件很生动的故事。
@
zuola: I'll just state that aside from having been forced into their vehicle to be taken back to Meitanba, my person is free now. However, I do hope that a journalist will be able to accompany me to Beijing, they won't know what to do then and I expect that it will make for a very vivid story.
17:31
我被长沙矿业集团保卫处刘处长把我从枫木桥接回煤炭坝了。他们要求我呆在煤炭坝就不管我，我一出去他们就要把我弄回来。我不是长沙矿业集团的人。
@
zuola: Changsha Mining Group Security Director Liu took me from Fengmuqiao back to Meitanba. They've demanded that I stay in Meitanba and that if I do, they'll leave me alone. If I leave, they'll bring me back. I don't work for the Changsha Mining Group.
25 comments
Arrestations en direct…
L’avantage des JO de Pékin, c’est que, malgré les efforts du Parti pour enrober de sucre la répression intérieure, les agissements de l’Etat policier chinois peuvent être filmés par la presse internationale.
Ainsi, l’arrestation du journal…
Laborers of the world, intellectual and physical, must unite to ensure freedom from tyranny of the ruling class. It’s the same worldwide, rich getting richer and poor being victimized. We must be fair to have a just world for all.
We’re pulling for you, Zuola. Keep up the fight.
Keep tracking this story John…looking forward to hearing more about Zuola. I guess its amazing he doesn’t get harrassed even more often.
I can’t help but notice that the pro-china lobby camped out at this website doesn’t have much response to this event. Rather, there beating a dead horse about events better responded to on another thread. How droll. As for the American minister who “painted the town red” while he was in Beijing, I would be very surprised if there weren’t sizeable repercussions for him with the U.S. State Dept. acting upon the grievances that the Chinese govt. undoubtedly have expressed to it about the minister’s reckless and immature behaivor, so don’t have a cow, fellas. He’ll have to pay.
But why no comment about Zuola? Perhaps you don’t care about him because he’s not a member of your family, and thus of complete inconsequence to you. I’d be grateful for some insight into this matter.
Yo Ant,
“But why no comment about Zuola? Perhaps you don’t care about him because he’s not a member of your family, and thus of complete inconsequence to you. I’d be grateful for some insight into this matter.”
I have an opinion, but it is only an opinion. But as for someone who favors dissent yours might differ from mine a bit.
The way I see it, the ultra-nationalists don’t give a crap b/c he is not a team player — well, at least not the team they are rooting for.
At the same time, “other people” don’t care because they can’t use him or his cause as a weapon. Cynical it may be, but ultimately this is probably the only value of the “dissenting voices” to the jackals outside.
Plus, who’s this Zoula fellow again? And what’s he’s cause again?
who said that “he had violated China’s one-child policy” ???????
is there any chinese text indicating that zola was under arrest for being accused of violating china’s one-child policy????????
上午借口来找计划生育违归的俩人同保卫处长一起来的，果然是冲我来的。
you cut this little piece of information from a whole paragraph of explaining who the two visitors are and twisted the fact. i dont know why you are doing this? if it is because of your poor chinese reading ability, maybe you can consider hiring a better translator, or pay me to do this translation for you.
我到家没多久，来了两个年轻人到我家问路，说是听说谁违反了计划生育，问我们知不知道这个人的名字。我们都说没听过这个人的名字，建议他去别的地方问问。他们走了十多分钟后又回来了，这次说是要找管计划生育的妇女主任，说是要考察妇女主作任的工作做得怎么样。然后我让他们去同村的小组长那里去打听。
结果先后来了四个政府的人，一对是找被举报违反计划生育的人
if you just want to twist the fact to get more hits for this pathetic fact, (by making the chinese government sound unbelievably stupid and ridiculous to charge an unmarried person without kids for violating the one child policy. i guess they have bad enough reputation in the western press anyways, by making something up to exaggerate a bit more wont make any difference), what can i say?
@im chinese,
Thanks for for your suggestion. I just took it for a typo and assumed that instead of 违归 he meant 违规, in which case I don’t see the problem. You don’t seem to have considered that, so I’m just left wondering how you (or anyone else reading this) would translate 计划生育违归 then, in this context.