Chinese Activist Paralyzed After Mysterious Attack
A Chinese activist was struck from behind in an attack that left him paralyzed after meeting with police to discuss an interview he had given, a human rights group and a German broadcaster said Tuesday.
The attack on Fu Xiancai, a critic of the government’s treatment of people displaced by the Three Gorges Dam project, highlighted the risks Chinese rights campaigners face.
In recent years, activists have increasingly complained about attacks by thugs who they and rights groups have sometimes alleged were acting on orders from authorities.
In an interview aired last month by the German public television network ARD, Fu said he had been threatened and beaten for complaining to the government about not getting compensation he was promised for relocating to make way for the dam, according to a letter from a German broadcaster, Norddeutscher Rundfunk, which is a member of the ARD network.
On June 8, he was called in by police in Zigui County, in Hubei province, to discuss the interview. While walking home after meeting with police, Fu was struck from behind, and the blow broke his neck, New York-based Human Rights in China said.
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