BEIJING, Sept. 10 (UPI) -- A blind Chinese activist against the country's rigid population control policies has been placed under house arrest.
The Washington Post reports Chen Guangcheng was arrested in Beijing when he traveled there from eastern Shangdong Province to meet central government officials about abuses of the family planning laws. Chen told the newspaper, in what was described as a brief cell phone call, that he was picked up by Shangdong police, returned to the province, held overnight and then forced to remain at home without visitors or a landline telephone.
"I have no way to stay in touch with the outside world now. I think the situation is rather dangerous," he said.
Chen has filed a class-action suit alleging that local officials in Shangdong have violated laws on family planning by forcing sterilization and abortions, and by using family members as hostages to enforce the two-child policy. While the central government has moved towards persuasion and fines to enforce limits on family size, many local officials overstep the law because they are judged by the numbers.
