Students from China’s top universities are flouting government restrictions to support workers detained for trying to organise a trade union, following the biggest mass arrest of workers since 2015.
Workers at Shenzhen’s Jasic Technology were arrested last week for protesting against the engineering company’s decision to prevent them from forming a trade union. About 30 protesters remain in detention, including a student supporter of the workers.
Although workers’ protests have become increasingly common amid China’s slowing economy, arrests are rare. The Jasic demonstration is also unusual in being a protest for political rights — the right to form a union — as opposed to a pay dispute, which is more common.