{"id":154098,"date":"2013-04-04T03:13:10","date_gmt":"2013-04-04T10:13:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/?p=154098"},"modified":"2013-04-04T03:13:41","modified_gmt":"2013-04-04T10:13:41","slug":"activists-detained-over-beijing-anti-corruption-display","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/2013\/04\/activists-detained-over-beijing-anti-corruption-display\/","title":{"rendered":"Activists Held Over Beijing Anti-Corruption Display"},"content":{"rendered":"
Authorities in Beijing have detained at least three activists who held up banners in a public square<\/strong><\/a> demanding that top government officials publicly declare their family assets, according to one of the detainees’ lawyers. From Raymond Li at the South China Morning Post:<\/p>\n Liang said his client, Yuan Dong, was taken into police custody along with three other activists for criminal investigation after they held banners in the Xidan Culture Square in Beijing’s Xicheng district on Sunday afternoon calling for greater disclosure of officials’ assets to improve the transparency of governance and combat official corruption.<\/p>\n Yuan, 45, was being held in the Beijing No3 Detention Centre along with two other activists, Zhang Baocheng and Ma Xinli, Liang said, but the whereabouts of the fourth activist, Hou Xin, was unknown.<\/p>\n Beijing police did not respond to an inquiry about the detentions yesterday.<\/p>\n The activists’ street campaign is part of a broader civil campaign launched in December calling for top government officials to declare their assets publicly to help fight rampant official corruption.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n The issue has simmered since last year, when some officials at the 18th Party Congress told foreign reporters that they would be open to the idea<\/a> as a way to curb corruption. It also became a popular Weibo topic<\/a> after Global Times Chief Editor Hu Xijin addressed financial disclosure on his own microblog.<\/p>\n