China arrests intellectuals in a new wave of repression

Originally published by EFE on December 4, 2014

Chinese authorities have arrested a number of public intellectuals and shut down two independent organizations in what many see as a preventive response to the threat of Hong Kong’s revolution spreading to the rest of the country, the Chinese Human Rights Defenders, CHRD , group said on Thursday.

The organization reported that Beijing authorities have shut down the Transition Institute, an independent think tank, and the Liren Group, which runs private schools and libraries.

Several intellectuals related to CHRD , as well as the scriptwriters of an independent short film, were also arrested.

Among those detained are the administrative director of the Transition Institute, He Zhengjun, arrested on Nov. 26; and Liu Jianshu, who returned to the country after studying at Harvard and Oxford in 2011 had been managing Liren libraries since then.