MCLC: sexual abuse protester beaten up

[Denton, Kirk]

MCLC LIST 
From: Kevin Carrico <kjc83 at cornell.edu>
Subject: sexual abuse protester beaten up
***********************************************************

This is a story that generating a lot of discussion on Weibo and Twitter.

Kevin

===========================================================

Source: SCMP (5/31/13):
http://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1250041/school-sexual-abuse-proteste
r-ye-haiyan-beaten

This is a story that generating a lot of discussion on Weibo and Twitter:

School sexual abuse protester Ye Haiyan beaten up in her own home
Mimi Lau in Guangzhou

Gender rights activist Ye Haiyan was assaulted and detained by Guangxi
public security officials yesterday after returning from Hainan
province, where she had protested against the sexual abuse of
schoolgirls.

Ye appealed for help three times on her microblog around noon
yesterday, saying her apartment had been raided by about 10 women and
one man while she was alone with her daughter.

"There are now four to five women beating me up," Ye said in her first
post. "Please help me to call the police. There is only me and my
daughter [here]."

Two Beijing-based lawyers who joined Ye in the Hainan protest earlier
this week said Ye was summoned for questioning by police in Guangxi's
Bobai county yesterday after she was accused of physical assault while
fending off her attackers.

Her supporters said they believed the attack was an attempt to silence
Ye after she launched an online anti-child-abuse campaign that has
received massive public support.

Earlier this week, Ye and a few lawyers held cardboard placards in
front of a Wanning primary school whose principal has been charged
with raping six girls. They urged perverted teachers to leave pupils
alone and posted photos of their campaign online.

The Hainan case triggered a national outcry, with the local
authorities accused of downplaying the case and seeking to silence the
victims' parents to control the damage. Public sentiment was further
inflamed by the reporting of at least seven other sexual abuse cases
targeting children in the past three weeks.

Internet users posted pictures of themselves in front of slogans,
saying: "Principals. Find me if you want to get a room [a Chinese
euphemism for having sex]. Please spare the primary pupils."

A relative who is caring for Ye's 13-year-old daughter said the girl
had been frightened by the attack. "She cried and didn't understand
what was happening," the relative said.

Local police approached for comment yesterday refused to answer
questions about Ye.

Tang Jitian , a Beijing-based rights lawyer, said police could hold Ye
for between 24 hours and 15 days, in what was a deliberate attempt to
silence her activism.

"She has also been seen as a thorn in the side of local authorities
obsessed with maintaining social stability," Tang said. "This is not
the first time she has been harassed."