Chinese authorities are widening their crackdown against an emerging grassroots activism led by young Marxists.
At least 16 of the 22 Chinese labor activists who disappeared in five cities over the weekend were still missing early on Wednesday.
The disappeared activists are part of the Jasic Workers Solidarity Group, which supports workers attempting to unionize at Shenzhen-based Jasic Technology, a welding machinery manufacturer.
Worker representatives were sacked, beaten and detained, and rallies and demonstrations held in August led to the arrest of about 50 activists by uniformed police.
The Jasic industrial action, although limited in scale, has been a symbolic milestone for the recent emergence of a new generation of left-leaning social activism in China.
The authorities had already stepped up their watch and control on Marxist student groups in universities after the Jasic campaign.
But on Friday evening 19 people, including young Marxists recently graduated from elite universities, labor activists and workers, were violently snatched in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen.
Three more activists, two workers and a recent graduate of Renmin University of China, were taken away on Sunday afternoon in Wuhan.
Students at the elite Peking University who formed a missing alumni concern group have been warned by the university over the past two days – in the presence of their parents and what appeared to be plain-clothes police – to ignore the weekend purge.
The concern group has vowed to keep fighting for their freedom.
“Many students were told the weekend incident was a law enforcement action by relevant departments targeting [suspects] of illegal activities,” a Peking University student close to the activist schoolmates said.
The student refused to be identified for fear of retribution.
“They also warned students against taking further radical actions as the university would no longer tolerate them. Further moves will be dealt with by law.
“We will not rest until the university can explain what constitutes the radical actions and illegal activities our alumni are accused of.”
A brief statement by the university’s security department said the Friday night incident was a police action targeting suspects who were not current students of Peking University.
Calls to the public security department in Guangdong province and Wuhan went unanswered while Beijing and Shanghai police declined to respond to the Post’s inquiries.
“Our universities’ campuses are in white terrors, where students’ safety is taken as a joke. We fear more students will disappear,” said another member of the Jasic solidarity group.
“We hope academics from home and abroad will support students’ actions,” said the student who cannot be named.
Meanwhile, five workers from Guangzhou who were snatched on Friday were released on Saturday after 24 hours.