London university students have been fasting in relay for the last two weeks in protest of human rights abuses in China, spurred into action by news of escalating arrests and 'disappearances'.
Joining a series of "relay hunger strikes" around the world, students from London School of Economics (LSE) and School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) hope to support the efforts of rights defenders in China such as lawyer Gao Zhisheng
"It is very important to highlight the human rights abuses that are going on in China. Also, it's solidarity of people that support other human rights supporters in different parts of the world," said Callum Watson, Chairman of the LSE Amnesty International Society.
Last month, Beijing human rights lawyer Gao Zhisheng started a relay hunger strike to protest the "violent abuse of civil rights and to safeguard human rights" in China. Thousands across China have since joined the hunger strike, taking turns in groups to fast for 24 hours.
Since March 7th at LSE and March 9th at SOAS, at least one student has fasted every day and several students have held a stall, distributing leaflets and collecting petition signatures.
Lecturer in Linguistics, Dr Yi Xu also joined the fast. He spoke with confidence of the imminent collapse of the Communist regime in China: "I wanted to be part of the strike and to feel proud when the CCP collapses. It may not even last until the end of the year, and definitely not until the Olympics in 2008."
Dr Xu, who has been a dissident for 16 years, described the situation in China as terrible. But not many Chinese were so willing to join in the protest, said the participants.
"Some of the Chinese people see it as an attack on their country, and I think it's important that we highlight the fact that its not an attack on China, it's in support of the Chinese people," said Watson. "Over time I think they'll understand that we are trying to support them."
The hunger strikes were initiated by the university's Amnesty International (AI) Society after AI issued a press release expressing concern for hunger strikers in China who had been arrested or had disappeared.
Although Gao is receiving broad support from Chinese people across the country, including China's legal community and even anonymous government officials, he is also facing tremendous pressure from the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). He has bee arrested and interrogated, his family has been under 24-hour surveillance for months, and he narrowly survived an assassination attempt.