Beijing’s aim of denying the dissident’s supporters a focal point is thwarted by protests from the Chinese coast to the Atlantic 
 
 Beijing has inadvertently transformed two thirds of the world’s surface into a vast aquatic protest zone, activists have said, after the ashes of Nobel laureate Liu Xiaobo were cast into the sea in what friends believe was a bid to submerge his political ideas. 
 
 
 
 Supporters of the democracy campaigner, who died in custody last week, will hold a series of global memorials on Wednesday, the seventh day since his death and a highly symbolic day of mourning in Chinese tradition. 
 
 Many of those protests will be held beside – or in – the sea, an allusion to Liu’s controversial ocean burial which supporters saw as a deliberate attempt to deny them a place of pilgrimage. 
 
 “The Communist Party thinks because there is no tombstone we can not commemorate Liu Xiaobo, but in fact the whole sea has become a place where we can be close to him,” said Hu Jia, an activist and longtime friend. 
 
 Facebook Twitter Pinterest An image used by campaigners to promote the memory of Liu Xiaobo. Photograph: Badiucao 
 
 Wen Yunchao, a New York-based campaigner, said Beijing had hoped that by consigning Liu’s remains to the ocean it could drown his ideas. “But it backfired – now anyone can go to the sea and mourn.” 
 
 In the days since Liu’s death, activists say watery protests have already taken place around the world including in New York, Boston, Melbourne, London and Hong Kong. 
 
 “We are doing this to keep his memory alive,” said Zhou Fengsuo, a California-based campaigner and Tiananmen survivor who donned a pair of tartan swimming trunks and took a dip in the Pacific to protest China’s “senseless” treatment of his friend. 
 
 On Sunday mourners, including Wen Yunchao, lit candles and placed an empty chair symbolising Liu’s absence from the 2010 Nobel award ceremony on the shores of the Atlantic in Queens, New York. 
 
 The next day Liu’s biographer and friend, Yu Jie, waded out into the waters off Taiwan’s west coast carrying a sign that read: “Mourning Liu Xiaobo: a martyr of China’s democracy.” 
 
 There have even been attempts at seaside resistance in China’s authoritarian mainland. 
 
 
 
 Activists Jiang Jianjun and Wang Chenggang, traveled to Dalian’s Laohutan beach, near the site of Liu’s burial, and filmed themselves hurling a bottle into the sea with a message reading: “Rest in peace, Mr Liu Xiaobo”. 
 
 
 
 Jiang was subsequently detained by Chinese police. “He posted pictures online and he was arrested,” said Zhou. “In China there is a very severe crackdown on anyone who dares to commemorate Liu Xiaobo’s life in public.” 
 
 Zhou, who is organising a second waterfront demonstration in San Francisco on Wednesday, said he had been surprised to see Liu’s admirers flock to shorelines around the world, without any apparent coordination. 
 
 
 
 “We didn’t even talk to each other,” he said. Many dissenters had found inspiration in a widely-shared portrait by dissident artist Badiucao which pictures Liu’s corpse staring out from a tsunami. 
 
 Zhou claimed Beijing had deliberately denied Liu an onshore resting place in order to stop his grave becoming a “lightning rod” for anti-Communist party protests. Activists now had to fight back, using the sea as an offshore rallying ground: “The government not only destroyed his body physically but they want to erase him from the collective memory .... We have to [protest] with as much creativity as we can.” 
 
 
 
 “Liu Xiaobo loved the ocean. He loved swimming. To our generation – in the 80s – the ocean was a symbol of freedom and openness,” Zhou added. “So that is where we can feel a connection with him now.” 
 
 Additional reporting by Wang Zhen ||||| Beijing (CNN) The global outpouring of grief and anguish over Liu Xiaobo's death stands in marked contrast to the muted reaction in his homeland. 
 
 The Nobel Peace Prize-winning writer and human rights activist died Thursday evening of liver cancer while in custody at a hospital in Shenyang in northeastern China. He was 61. 
 
 Liu's funeral was held Saturday morning in Shenyang and attended by his "family members and close friends," according to a city government spokesman. Liu's body had been cremated, and his ashes had been dropped into the sea in a private ceremony, he said. 
 
 "The authorities can't afford to see Liu's grave turn into a landmark and symbol where people gather to pay tribute," said Hu Jia, a leading Chinese human rights activist who has known Liu's wife for years and has served prison terms for his own advocacy. "They want to erase all traces of him." 
 
 "But three-quarters of the Earth's surface is covered by water," he added. "His grave is now everywhere." 
 
 In a government-organized news conference, Liu Xiaobo's eldest brother -- who Liu's supporters say had never approved his activism -- on Saturday afternoon expressed the family's "profuse gratitude" to the state for showing "humanity" in providing medical treatment and arranging "perfect" funeral services for Liu. He left without taking questions. 
 
 The Chinese government, which had long banned Liu's work and even his name, continues to censor the story of his death, deleting social media posts mourning him -- including those simply displaying the image of a burning candle -- and blocking online searches containing variations of his name and famed quotes. 
 
 CNN's broadcast is blacked out in China every time Liu's images or story appear. 
 
 A poster of Liu Xiaobo is held up during a protest in Hong Kong. 
 
 Domestic media outlets, all controlled by the ruling Communist Party, mostly have ignored the news. Dominating Friday's front page of the party mouthpiece, People's Daily, was a photo of a beaming President Xi Jinping meeting his Canadian counterpart. 
 
 A few English-language outlets carried short reports on Liu's death, highlighting his "criminal" background and Chinese doctors' effort to save him. 
 
 'Inciting subversion' 
 
 Before he was granted medical parole last month, Liu had been serving a 11-year prison sentence for "inciting subversion of state power." His conviction in late 2009 stemmed from his co-authorship of a manifesto calling for human rights and political reform in China. 
 
 In 2010, while he was in prison, the Nobel committee awarded Liu the peace prize for "his long and non-violent struggle for fundamental human rights in China" -- a move that infuriated Beijing. 
 
 In a harshly worded, English-language editorial published Friday by the nationalistic tabloid, The Global Times, the state-run newspaper painted Liu as "a victim led astray by West." 
 
 "Liu lived in an era when China witnessed the most rapid growth in recent history, but he attempted to confront Chinese mainstream society under Western support," it said. "This has determined his tragic life." 
 
 "The West has bestowed upon Liu a halo, which will not linger," it added. 
 
 A protester holds up a picture of Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo on June 30, 2017, in Hong Kong. 
 
 The newspaper had posted a since-deleted message in Chinese on Sina Weibo, a platform similar to Twitter, mocking the international reactions to Liu's death: "The person's gone but a blockbuster tear-jerker is just on -- we'll sit back and enjoy the show." 
 
 'Improper comments' 
 
 Amid an avalanche of condolences and condemnations from politicians and activists around the world, the Chinese government took the unusual step of issuing a statement shortly after 2 a.m. Friday to respond to what it called "improper comments" by foreign officials. 
 
 "The handling of Liu Xiaobo's case belongs to China's domestic affairs, and foreign countries are in no position to make improper remarks," said foreign ministry spokesman Geng Shuang. "We call on relevant countries to respect China's judicial sovereignty and not to meddle in China's domestic affairs with this individual case." 
 
 The statement was sent directly to foreign journalists and was nowhere to be found on the ministry's website -- just like all previous official responses to questions about Liu. 
 
 China has conveyed its "strong dissatisfaction and firm opposition" to all governments and international entities that commented on Liu's death, including the United States and the United Nations' human rights commission, Geng said at a regular news briefing Friday afternoon. 
 
 China's warning seems to have gone unheeded, with even the US President -- not known as a public champion of human rights activists -- expressing his sorrow over Liu's death and calling him a "political prisoner" in a statement. 
 
 Echoing myriad other world leaders, Donald Trump made a point of mentioning Liu Xia, a poet and artist who married Liu Xiaobo in 1996 while he was serving an earlier prison sentence. 
 
 Liu Xiaobo has become an icon of the democracy movement in Hong Kong. 
 
 As her husband remained behind bars until recently, Liu Xia, 56, paid a heavy price for simply being his wife. Under de facto house arrest since his Nobel win, Liu Xia saw her communication with the outside world almost completely cut by the government. 
 
 She has been suffering severe depression, according to close friends, especially after authorities sentenced her brother to 11 years in prison over what supporters call trumped-up charges of business fraud. 
 
 Struggle continues 
 
 Now, Liu Xia is increasingly the focus of an international campaign calling for her freedom and right to live abroad, which many friends and supporters say were her husband's dying wishes. 
 
 "He loved her so much that he felt he owed it to her," said Liao Yiwu, a prominent Chinese writer and longtime friend of the Lius who now lives in Germany. 
 
 "He didn't know about her condition and what had happened at home until not that long ago," Liao said. "That's why he agreed to go abroad with her." 
 
 In a hastily arranged news conference in Shenyang after his death, Liu Xiaobo's Chinese doctors acknowledged for the first time that he had sought treatment overseas but insisted that his medical condition by then had made international travel impossible. 
 
 They confirmed that Liu Xia was by her husband's bedside when he died -- and his last words urged her to "live a good life." 
 
 Despite worldwide solidarity behind Liu Xia, many supporters sense the Chinese government's fear of her turning into an international symbol and rallying cry for human rights. They foresee an uphill battle for her ahead. 
 
 "Few knew Liu Xiaobo's thoughts in the last eight years, but she did, and they talked during his last days," said Hu, the Chinese activist. "I think the authorities are afraid of seeing even the simplest last words from him get out and spread." 
 
 Geng, the Chinese foreign ministry spokesman, repeatedly declined to say Friday whether the government would allow Liu Xia to leave China, insisting that Beijing would handle her case "in accordance with law." 
 
 "Liu Xia is free," the Shenyang city government spokesman said Saturday, but needs privacy to mourn her painful loss. 
 
 In government handout photos of her husband's funeral, a grief-stricken Liu Xia, wearing all black and sunglasses, can be seen bowing to the open casket and holding a portrait of Liu Xiaobo. 
 
 The authorities later released videos that they said proved Liu Xia's consent to the burial arrangement. One clip purportedly shows a handwritten note by Liu Xia on Thursday requesting a private sea burial, while the other appears to be a hidden-camera recording of her saying the same thing. 
 
 In a brief appearance before reporters, Liu Xiaobo's eldest brother said Liu Xia was unable to join him due to her "extremely weak condition" that may require medical attention. He did not respond to shouted questions about her whereabouts amid growing international concern over her freedom and welfare. 
 
 Across the closely monitored cyberspace in China, some internet users have evaded censors to post lines from Liu Xia's poems that were dedicated to her late husband -- including verses from "Wind": "Walls make you suffocate / you are the wind, and the wind / never tells me / when it comes and when it goes." ||||| Friends of jailed democracy activist and Nobel laureate say they are losing hope that he will be allowed to seek cancer treatment overseas 
 
 Friends of China’s most famous political prisoner, the Nobel laureate Liu Xiaobo, said they feared he was entering his final hours on Thursday, as the White House renewed its call for the dissident’s release. 
 
 “Liu Xiaobo is on his deathbed,” said the writer and activist Wen Kejian, who is among those who have been blocked by authorities from visiting their dying friend. 
 
 “Although we know the patient and his family are suffering, we are praying that Xiaobo can hold on for a few more days,” he added. 
 
 The hospital where Liu is being treated in north-east China issued a bleak, though contested, update on the condition of the 61-year-old dissident on Wednesday afternoon. 
 
 Devotion amid despair: the great contemporary love story of Liu Xia and Liu Xiaobo Read more 
 
 In a statement, it said Liu, who was serving an 11-year prison sentence when he was diagnosed with terminal liver cancer in May, was “close to death”. His kidneys and liver were shutting down and he was suffering from respiratory failure, the hospital claimed. 
 
 Liu, who is reportedly being held under guard, has asked to be flown out of China for treatment in either Germany or the United States. However, Beijing has so far refused to allow his exit from China, with critics accusing it of being afraid that he will use his final days to launch a last attack on its one-party system. 
 
 Some supporters question the accuracy of official reports about Liu’s health, suspecting they may be designed to bolster Beijing’s claim that Liu is unfit to leave China. “We simply don’t know to what extent this is professional medical reports and to what extent this is politically-manipulated information,” Maya Wang, a Hong Kong-based activist for Human Rights Watch, told AFP. 
 
 Diplomatic voices told the Guardian they suspected Beijing was deliberately stalling attempts to transfer Liu overseas until it was no longer safe for medics to move him. 
 
 After visiting Liu last weekend, two foreign doctors announced – contrary to Chinese claims – that he was well enough to be taken overseas but it needed to happen as quickly as possible. 
 
 “There still is a window of opportunity [to move Liu] but it is rapidly closing,” the diplomatic sources said. “It seems the leadership … has decided to ride it out, irrespective of the considerable reputational damage.” 
 
 World leaders including the US president, Donald Trump, and the British prime minister, Theresa May, have yet to publicly raise Liu’s plight themselves, although their governments have issued statements on his case. 
 
 On Wednesday a White House spokeswoman said the US remained concerned that Liu and his family were not free to seek the medical treatment of his choosing and were being prevented from communicating with the outside world. 
 
 “We continue to call on the Chinese authorities to grant him full parole and to release his wife from house arrest and provide them the protections and freedoms, such as freedom of movement and access to appropriate medical care consistent with Chinese constitution, legal system, and international commitments,” spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders told reporters. 
 
 
 
 A spokesman for China’s foreign ministry, Geng Shuang, again rejected foreign calls for Liu’s release on Thursday, repeating verbatim previously rebuttals. “We hope relevant countries can respect China’s judicial sovereignty and refrain from interfering in China’s internal affairs under the pretext of an individual case.” 
 
 Wen Kejian said he felt anger and sadness at his friend’s plight and feared the campaign to free him had failed. “I no longer have any hope that Liu will be able to go abroad,” he said. 
 
 “I’m not giving up. I’m just looking at the harsh reality.” 
 
 
 
 Additional reporting by Wang Zhen
– Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo's supporters say that in casting his ashes into the sea, the Chinese government hoped to deprive them of a permanent resting place to hold dear. What it did instead was create the world's biggest memorial, say those supporters, who plan to gather next to and even in the ocean Wednesday—the seventh day since Liu's death from multiple organ failure related to cancer at age 61—as part of a staging of memorials around the planet. The effort will follow water-minding acts and protests that have already occurred in New York, Boston, Melbourne, London, and Hong Kong. "The whole sea has become a place where we can be close to him," a friend tells the Guardian. Beijing's idea "backfired," adds another activist. "Now anyone can go to the sea and mourn." A report from the Canada-based Citizen Lab picked up by Quartz sees Beijing's hand in something else: It found that when users of Wechat—China's most popular messaging app—attempted to message an image of Liu to another user, the image was scrubbed and never made it to the intended recipient. (The dying Nobel Prize winner's last words were for his wife.)