Pu Zhiqiang trial: Scuffles outside Beijing court as human rights lawyer goes on trial

Pu Zhiqiang is acced of 'inciting ethnic hatred' and 'picking quarrels and provoking trouble'

Scuffles outside Beijing court as human rights lawyer Pu Zhiqiang goes on trial (AP)

Police have scuffled with journalists and protesters outside a courtroom in Beijing as one of China’s most prominent human rights lawyers went on trial.

Pu Zhiqiang, who has represented dissident artist Ai Weiwei and labour camp victims, faces a maximum of eight years in jail for “inciting ethnic hatred” and “picking quarrels and provoking trouble”.

Mr Pu was detained in May 2014 after attending a gathering commemorating the infamous 1989 massacre around Tiananmen Square. He was arrested for a series of comments on Sina Weibo – a micro-blogging site similar to Twitter – between 2011 and 2014, mocking the ruling Communist Party and questioning policies towards the country’s minorities.

The BBC’s John Sudworth witnessed the altercation outside the courthouse and was filmed being pushed away by security officials as he tried to present a news segment. Sky’s China Correspondent Katie Stallard was also pushed around by security forces amid the chaotic scenes.

It is reported that around 50 protesters gathered outside the courthouse, alongside diplomats and journalists. All were denied entry. Police and plainclothes security officers then pushed the journalists and protesters away from the scene.

"Pu Zhiqiang is a lawyer with a conscience," activist Yang Qiuyu said in a brief interview outside the venue while a policeman tried to grab him. "This is why he is now under arrest. We support him, and that means that we are also defending our own rights.”

In the comments, Mr Zhiqiang said that China did not need Communist rule, writing: "Other than secrecy, cheating, passing the buck, delay, the hammer and sickle, what kinds of secrets of governance does this party have?"

He also condemned government policy in the mainly Muslim far western region of Xinjiang as "absurd" in the wake of a bloody knife attack blamed on separatists that killed 31 people at a train station in Kunming.

"Don't be a conqueror or a plunderer," he wrote. "No matter whether your aggression is a preemptive measure or a responsive measure, it's all aggression. It's all about making the other side your enemy."

The trial lasted less than four hours and Mr Zhiqiang’s relatives told reporters outside the courthouse that no verdict has been reached at this stage.

Additional reporting by PA