[Excerpt translation from Chinese to English provided by Business & Human Rights Resource Centre] 

“Labour Activists released after being detained for 15 days”, 2 January 2020

Chinese labour activist Chen Weixiang and two others who were arrested in Guangzhou at the end of 2019 were released after half a month of administrative detention and went home with their friends and family. Chen Weixiang posted on Facebook to thank the public for their solidarity.

Chen Weixiang has been working on labour rights in China and opened a public account on WeChat called “Heart Sanitation”. He is concerned with such issues as low salary and unreasonable contracts among sanitation workers. On 17 December 2019, Chen Weixiang, a volunteer surnamed Lu and a Chinese student surnamed Zhang who is pursuing postgraduate studies in Taiwan and conducting research for a thesis in Guangzhou were arrested in their residence by a dozen uniformed and plainclothed police officers and were unreachable afterwards. There were then rumours that the three were arrested for “picking quarrels and provoking troubles” and detained for 15 days from 18 December onwards.

Yang Zhanqing, a friend of Chen Weixiang’s and an anti-discrimination activist told CNA that Chen and the other two were released and picked up by their friends and family to go home.

Yang Zhanqing said that Chen has not been reached yet so the exact reasons for his arrest remain unknown…

Chen posted on Facebook that he will be free temporarily and thanked the public for their solidarity, “Without your support, I will not be released; without our struggles, justice will not be achieved”…