Update: Zuihulu reports:
My dear friends, I’m back from having tea. Everything’s fine. Thanks for your concern
Zuihulu, the netizen who snapped photos of the overturned police cars and crowds of protesters in Nankang, Jiangxi Province, earlier this week, has apparently been detained by police.
Reportedly, this is so the police can “understand the situation.” His computer, phone, and camera have been taken, too.
The following post to Fanfou is from a user who claims to be Zuihulu’s girlfriend. It’s addressed to well-known blogger Lian Yue, who has been following the situation closely:
Hello Lianyue, I am Zuihulu’s girlfriend. Thank you for your concern over this situation. From last night until now there has been no word back from them, and through other channels I have been unable to find out anything. I don’t know how serious the situation is, or how the authorities will handle it, and I don’t know what to do now, so I’m seeking your advice. Thanks a million.
This roughly fits with Zuihulu’s last Fanfou update, at 9:47pm on June 16.
Prior to this, Zuihulu had discovered that major media outlets were using his photos to illustrate their reports on the Nankang situation, without crediting him. The websites include People Online, which does not credit anyone for the photos, and CRI, which credits Sichuan Online.
Concerned netizens are now calling on the portals that reposted Zuihulu’s photos to act responsibly toward one of their news sources.
Lian Yue, who has been posting links to sites using the photos, writes:
That’s all for the moment, but it’s not just these. Perhaps an excuse could be found for the widespread infringement of Zuihulu’s photo copyright on the part of the Internet and the media, but now that Zuihulu has been detained, these websites have the duty and moral responsibility to take the entirely risk-free step of adding a correction mentioning Zuihulu, and to help a citizen who has provided them with valuable news photos.
The protests were motivated by a plan to overhaul the city’s furniture industry, which included the consolidation or elimination of small- and mid-scale producers. The city government and party committee blamed the protests on a misunderstanding, but on Monday they issued a memo repealing the scheme.
- Nankang government (Chinese): On repealing the Blueprint for Overhauling the Nankang Furniture Business, The mass incident was a result of a small number of furniture businesses in our city who misunderstood the new tax rules
- Wei Yingjie’s blog (Chinese): List of websites using Zuihulu’s photos