scrutiny over labor activists in Xi-led China, the workers’ supporters have suddenly found themselves in police custody.

The Hunan silicosis workers have repeatedly traveled to Shenzhen demanding compensation from the government for years of costly medical bills. It was shortly after one such trip last winter that Yang Zhengjun, editor of iLabour (新生代), an independent media platform oriented toward workers, was taken by police in Shenzhen, with his support for the workers reportedly being one of the main activities about which the authorities questioned him. In March two other editors, Wei Zhili and Ke Chengbing, were also detained.

In late March, authorities stopped silicosis workers at a train station in Hunan, preventing them from traveling to Shenzhen to call for the activists’ release. The workers, however, continued to make suchcalls from Hunan, petitioning the All-China Federation of Trade Unions to intervene and holding a sit-in at a local government building.

Another round of arrests came in May, when five other activists were simultaneously arrested in Beijing, Guangzhou and Shenzhen, their organizations searched and other staff brought in for questioning. At least one, Li Dajun, the director of Hope Community in Beijing, was questioned about his advocacy for the Hunan silicosis workers. Li had been a long-time supporter of the workers. In 2015, he wrote an essay titled “I Have No Choice But To Do This until I Die” (我没得选择，我只有做到死为止), telling of their struggles to pay medical bills and support themselves. In 2018, he penned “My Friend Killed Himself” about one of the workers.

One representative of the Hunan silicosis