SHANGHAI (AFP) - Protesters staged a rare demonstration outside a Shanghai court on Monday in support of a jobless man who is appealing against his conviction for murdering six policemen.
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Around a dozen people staged a brief protest at the beginning of the closed-door trial of Yang Jia, 28, who was sentenced to death last month for the murders.
Yang stormed into a Shanghai police station on July 1 and went on a stabbing frenzy, reportedly in revenge for being wrongfully detained on suspicion of stealing a bicycle.
Chinese authorities on Monday gave out few details of the appeal and court officials refused to comment, continuing the secretive handling of a case that has generated controversy with Yang regarded by some as a victim.
Yang had become an Internet cult hero because his case raised questions about police harassment.
In the street outside Shanghai's Higher People's Court, the protesters were taken away by police after donning T-shirts with Yang's face on them and a quote from him reading: "If you don't give me a reason then I will teach you a lesson."
"We are just ordinary people concerned about Yang Jia's fate. We want to know the truth but they were shutting off all the access," Liang Yin, one of the protesters said. She hid her T-shirt to avoid being taken into custody.
Huang Xuemin, a grey-haired protester, complained police beat her when she tried to enter the court premises.
"You see how police were treating us, and you could imagine how badly Yang Jia must be treated," she said, showing the assembled crowd scratches on her forearms that she said were from her scuffle with police.
Police officials were not immediately available for comment.
Lawyer Zhai Jian, who was appointed by the court to defend Yang at the second trial, said his client's fate would largely depend on a new round of psychiatric assessments, the official Xinhua news agency reported.
Prosecutors said previously that Yang confessed to attacking the district police headquarters because he wanted revenge for being wrongfully detained overnight in October 2007 on suspicion of stealing a bicycle.
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