“Latest News on Chengdu Overpass Protester Mei Shilin”
According to the latest information we have received, Mei Shilin was placed under criminal detention on April 16, 2025, and formally arrested on July 16 (during which time he may have been subjected to residential surveillance at a designated location). He is charged with “picking quarrels and provoking trouble” and is currently being held at the Chengdu Detention Center.
On September 10, a lawyer, entrusted by Mei’s family, went to the Chengdu Detention Center to request a meeting with him. At first, the detention center refused, citing that the public security bureau was questioning him. Near noon, the detention center produced a handwritten note signed by Mei Shilin, stating that he would only accept Zhou Yongtao, a lawyer from Chengdu Legal Aid, as his defense counsel, and that he would not accept or meet with any other lawyer.
In the early hours of April 15, 2025, Mei Shilin, a young man from Muchuan County, Sichuan, hung a banner on the Chadianzi overpass in Chengdu that read: “China does not need anyone to point out its direction; without political reform there will be no national rejuvenation; the people do not need a party whose power is unchecked.”
An employee at the Huawei Authorized Experience Store in Wanda Plaza, Suiyang District, Shangqiu, Henan, suddenly died while at work. The store refused to provide compensation or proper arrangements, prompting the family to stage a protest at the store entrance on September 9.
On September 3, the day of the “9.3 military parade,” and again on September 8, a group of retired non-commissioned officers in Honghe Prefecture, Yunnan, staged two sit-in protests at the Honghe Prefecture government office, protesting the authorities’ failure to implement resettlement policies for veterans, which has left them struggling in difficult living conditions.
“Families and Villagers Twice Demand Answers Over Bullying at a School in Cangwu, Guangxi”
On September 7 and 9, parents and villagers gathered twice at the gate of Shiqiao Middle School in Cangwu County, Wuzhou, Guangxi, demanding accountability for the bullying of a female student and a male student.
From September 3 to 4, a female student at Shiqiao Middle School was subjected to two prolonged bullying incidents in her dormitory by eight classmates. Afterward, the perpetrators uploaded videos of the bullying online to show off, sparking public outrage. However, according to the victim’s family, the bullies have yet to apologize.
On September 8, a separate video also began circulating online, showing a male student at Shiqiao Middle School being bullied in his dormitory in 2024.
“Wenzhou, Zhejiang: Government Deploys 200 Police and Security Guards to Beat Villagers and Seize Water Resources”
On Monday (September 8), in Chengtian Village, Bilian Town, Yongjia County, Wenzhou, Zhejiang, local authorities, disregarding villagers’ opposition, dispatched around 200 police officers and security guards into the village under the pretext of “installing tap water” in order to forcibly seize control of the community’s water resources. During the operation, led by a deputy Party secretary of Bilian Town, police and security guards assaulted villagers defending their rights, leaving three hospitalized with injuries.
According to residents, villagers in Chengtian have long relied on self-built systems to access mountain spring water, which costs only 0.5 yuan per ton and is of high quality. However, the Bilian Town government, in collaboration with a tap water company, has been pushing to build water facilities in the village, aiming to force villagers to switch to the company’s supply. Villagers said that if completed, their water costs would quadruple. Some also suspect that the authorities intend to divert the high-quality local spring water to urban areas for profit.
As most villagers are elderly left-behind residents, they were unable to sustain resistance after several rounds of clashes. That evening, under police protection, construction on the tap water project was forcibly started.
Dozens of construction workers on Monday (September 8) blocked the gate of the administrative committee of the Tongchuan New Materials Industrial Park in Shaanxi, demanding wages that had been withheld by Tongchuan LONGi for more than six months. At one point, they confronted the police. According to the workers, wages owed to several hundred workers amount to tens of millions of yuan in total.
[Hundreds of Delivery Riders in Changsha Block Entrance to Protest Property Ban]
On the evening of Monday, September 8, more than a hundred food delivery riders gathered at the entrance of the Mingfa Yuejiang Yuefu residential compound in Yueliangdao, Wangcheng District, Changsha, Hunan, blocking the gate to protest the property management’s ban on them riding through the compound to reach the Sasseur Outlets Golden Street for order pickups. This restriction caused their pickup time to be extended by about half an hour compared with usual. According to informed sources, the property management took this measure because stall fees had not been paid recently. In the early hours of the following day, the riders dispersed after police promised to hold a meeting that morning with subdistrict officials, Sasseur representatives, property management, and rider representatives to discuss a resolution. However, the riders stated that if they did not receive a satisfactory response by 5:30 p.m. on September 9, they would launch another protest.
Submission: Statement by Wuxi, Jiangsu Rights Defender Shen Aibin After Being Beaten by Police
“Jiangsu rights defender Shen Aibin was recently beaten by police. His attempts to seek justice through reporting the incident were unsuccessful. He recorded a video himself to expose the collusion of government and criminal forces, calling for social justice. The video was passed on through intermediaries and eventually made its way abroad, in the hope of wider publication and greater impact.”
On the evening of September 7, a group of retired veterans from Lüliang, Shanxi, who had come to Beijing to petition, were intercepted at the train station by a group of plainclothes officers immediately after getting off the train.
