Activists in China have launched a “call me, not school children” campaign, as part of an online battle against paedophiles.

Women in China are following in the footsteps of campaigner Ye Haiyan by releasing images of themselves holding placards with slogans such as: “Headmaster, get a hotel room, call me and leave the kids alone."

Ye originally posted a picture of herself holding a banner with these words, followed by a number for a national women's helpline on micro blogging service Weibo. Within a few hours of posting she was joined by hundreds of activists, police officers, housewives and parents who held similar banners in their own pictures.

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Ye has long been an advocate for vulnerable women and hit headlines last year after controversially spending a day working as a prostitute servicing migrant workers in Beijing, in a bid to raise awareness of the conditions endured by sex workers. The 37-year-old blogger also posed naked with dissident artist Ai Weiwei in his ‘One Tiger, Eight Breasts’ piece, which lead to a police probe over pornography allegations.

Her campaign comes after mainland Chinese courts were ordered to administer harsher sentences to child abusers last week, following a spate of school attacks in Wanning, Hainan province on 8 May.

Additional reporting by agencies