Beijing - Police have arrested environmental activist Wu
Lihong, who has fought for years against the pollution of Taihu Lake
in eastern China, his wife and a friend said Tuesday.
Dozens of police stormed Wu's apartment Friday night in Zhoutie
near Yixing in Jiangsu province and detained the 39-year-old, his
wife, Xu Jiehua, told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa by telephone.
'Around 50 to 60 policeman besieged my house, and they smashed my
door and broke in,' Xu said.
'They searched everywhere in my house, including every book, every
corner and even the roof space,' she said.
Officers took away Wu's computer, camera, photo album, credit card
and other belongings, she added.
When Xu went to the local police station, she was told that Wu was
accused of 'blackmail and extortion,' she said.
Xu said she was on her way to Beijing to find a lawyer to defend
her husband.
A friend said Wu was initially accused of contacting foreign media
'Neighbours and friends tried in vain to prevent the arrest,' the
friend said.
Wu has worked for years to uncover illegal water pollution by
businesses and has denounced the inaction of corrupt officials. He
has repeatedly been arrested and threatened.
'Wu Lihong told me around one week before his detention that the
[city] propaganda department and public security department had been
to talk with him many times to try to persuade him not to make
complaints,' his friend said.
Local officials said they were forced to travel to Beijing to 'put
out the fire' caused by Wu's environmental activism, he said.
'Wu said to me around one month ago that the PSB [public security
bureau] had begun to investigate his business partners and his
friends who worked as public servants,' the friend said. 'After the
investigation, the PSB came to talk to him, and one week after that,
he was detained.'
Wu grew up beside Taihu Lake, the third-largest freshwater lake in
China, which is located in the Yangtze Delta plain on the border of
Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces.
The pollution in the lake is serious near Yixing, Wu's friend said.
'Wu was puzzled and shocked that Yixing was applying for the title
of model city for environmental protection,' the friend said
Wu began lobbying the central government early last year, arguing
that Yixing had in fact failed to meet environmental protection
standards.
Despite his protests, the national environment protection bureau
awarded the title of model city to Yixing in November.
Wu called the bureau to ask why they gave the title to Yixing and
was told that the Jiangsu provincial government had informed it that
Wu would not raise any objections, his friend said.
The two friends were 'shocked by the results' of their call to the
environmental protection bureau and decided to gather more evidence
for a legal challenge, he said.
Wu took scores of photographs and nearly 100 samples of polluted
water, and the friends had planned to take their case to a Beijing
court on April 22, World Earth Day.
'I want to ask, as he was detained only 10 days before April 22,
is that really a coincidence?' his friend asked.
Taihu is known for its fish industry and as a tourist attraction
because of its scenic beauty, but it is also highly polluted.
The lake provides much of the drinking water in the thickly
populated area despite it worsening pollution, caused by discharges
of wastewater and from factories.
© 2007 dpa - Deutsche Presse-Agentur 
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