Instead of openly investigating the allegedly staged suicide of political activist Li Wangyang, the local authorities in Shaoyang city moved to force through the cremation of Li's body after a hasty autopsy conducted by government-appointed personnel. In addition, Li's family and friends have all been detained and are now out of touch from the rest of the world.

This past Sunday (June 11, 2012), around 25,000 people in Hong Kong took to the street to condemn the staged suicide of Li and mourn for the martyr, who lived his life in defense of justice and truth.

One of the groups at the rally was mobilized through a Facebook event [zh], “We are all Li Wangyang”. Hundreds of young people turned out in support, eyes covered with strips of white cloth, and walked 5 kilometers to mourn for Li Wangyang from Causeway Bay to the Liaison Office of the Central People's Government.

In the process, they recited more than 100 poems [zh] collected through the Facebook event page. Inmediahk.net has put up a video showing the mourners and the rally at vimeo [zh]:

Below is a translation of one of the poems, authored by Bitter Daisy [zh]:

《未竟之志》 苦薏 一根白布

綁不住你自由的夢 恫嚇妄語

再囂張跋扈也掩埋不住真相 你

目不能視

卻能看到遠大的未來 你

耳不能聽

卻能聽到女神的夢囈 你

腿不能行

卻擋不住強大的心 即使氣息失去了 心跳失去了 從今已後 不止息地撼動每一個人 你如飛絮落在人們心裡

開出火紅的花朵

從此

再沒有你我

萬相為一 明天 一步一正念 就讓我們去繼承你的

未竟之志

A will unfulfilled A piece of white cloth

Could not restrain your dream of freedom Threatening voices

Tyrannical and domineering, could not cover up the truth You

Whose eyes see not

Could see a great future You

Whose ears hear not

Could hear the murmuring of a Goddess You

Whose legs walk not

But whose heart continued to overcome Even though there is no more breath or beating in your heart Till the end of time Every single person will be touched Like a willow catkin, you rest in people's hearts

A flourish of red flower blossoms

And hence

There is no you and me

Everything merges together Tomorrow Every single step is a will We are going to inherit

The unfulfilled Will

The hundreds upon thousands of protesters converged in Hong Kong's Central district and walked together to the Liaison Office, where they were welcomed with the Hong Kong police force's pepper spray. Below is a photo uploaded to Facebook by Aloi Wong:

Intimidated by the police action but determined to mourn in front of the official representative of the Central Chinese government, protesters blocked part of Connaught Road and surrounded the government building:

In China, where public mourning and demonstration is not allowed, activists began making the public statement that “I will never commit suicide”, in protest against the staged suicide of Li Wangyang. Twitter user @gexun has created a Google doc [zh] to collect the statements, several of which have been translated below:

tufuwugan : I am in healthy condition (fatty liver aside). I am a positive person and have hope for the future. Am waiting for the final judgement of them (the villains). There is no way that I would commit suicide. Since I have started to kill pigs (translator note: to criticize the authorities), I dare not commit anything illegal: no drugs, no prostitutes, no killing or vandalism. I am very careful when crossing the road, always let the cars go first. I don't make enemies with ordinary people. This is my statement.

chen_yunfei : No matter how strong the dictator is, no matter how much suffering I have to endure to taming this animal, no matter how the devil tortures me, I will never commit suicide. If, in any case, police say that I have committed suicide, it will have been a staged death. This is my statement.

raulmouse : I am Shen Ge, also known as Shen Erxi, Lao Shen, or Mouse. I was a guest worker at a university and a private property renter. A typical Virgo, I like to choose the difficult path and am a perfectionist. I am timid like a mouse, I enjoy eating and drinking and pretty women. I am a pretentious person. Unless someone threatens me with my family's lives, I will never commit suicide. This is my statement.

So far more than 60 similar statements have been made published on Twitter. The final interview given by Li Wangyang has been translated and uploaded to YouTube, embedded here as background reference of Li's life.

http://youtu.be/lClvj9J5m7E