SILENCED

Chinese Police Censor Activist During Live TV Interview

“I have my freedom of speech!” he says to officers during phone interview. Then the line cut off.

Chinese police censored an activist while he was giving a phone interview to a U.S.-funded broadcast station Wednesday night. Police forcibly entered the home of retired economics professor and government critic Sun Wenguang in the eastern city of Jinan while he was speaking with Voice of America. “The police are here to interrupt again,” he said when they arrived. He grew increasingly alarmed, saying, “What are you doing? What are you doing? Let me tell you, it’s illegal for you to come to my home.” “I have my freedom of speech!” he said just before the call cut off. Voice of America Mandarin attempted to contact Sun after the call, but was unable to do so. “This is the status quo of human rights in China,” said channel host Bo Xu. Sun’s history of criticism against the Chinese government includes signing the democratic Charter 08 manifesto and writing an open letter to President Xi Jinping that advocated for spending more money on helping the people of China and less on foreign aid. A Voice of America spokesperson told The New York Times it “is monitoring the situation closely and will provide an update to program viewers once more information becomes available.”