CRI听力:Police Arrests Suspected Paid Protest Organizers

According to a statement published by the Ministry of Public Security, the detainees include lawyers as the core organizers, and social media celebrities and petitioners who are in charge of planning and implementation.

The group of suspects was led by the Beijing-based Fengrui Law Firm.

Zhai Yanmin, a major organizer of the group, exposes the methods of the lawyers at the heart of the allegations.

"They yelled in court so as to put pressure onto judges. Once they were removed from the courtroom, they would meet with petitioner’s onsite, who carried signs and shouted slogans to keep pressuring judges and sway court decisions. "
The police statement says the organizers have disrupted public order and sought profits by hiring protesters and swaying court decisions in the name of "defending justice and public interests."

Petitioners took part in these incidents because they not only received payment but also received more attention for their own court cases from government officials.

A suspect surnamed Ning is one of them.

"They told us that we can arouse attention by participating in those protests. If we were present (at sites of controversial incidents), the local government would be informed, which will help us solve problems of our own as higher-ranked officials would urge local government (to handle our complaints). "

The group is accused of organizing more than 40 controversial incidents since July 2012.

One of the recent high-profile cases was related to the shooting incident in Qingan County in northeast China.

A man named Xu Chunhe was shot dead in May at a local railway station after attacking a police officer several times despite the officer's multiple warnings.

Lawyers from Fengrui Law Firm then spread rumors that the police officer was directed to open fire because Xu was a petitioner.

The firm further spread online rumors that the incident was a murder conspiracy and organized several protests.

Zhou Shifeng, director of Fengrui Law Firm, has been arrested, along with Wu Gan and Zhai Yanmin.

Further investigation of the case is underway.

For CRI, I am qizhi.