Human Rights in China (HRIC) has learned that public security police detained Shanghai petitioner Fu Yuxia on the afternoon of February 15.

Sources in China told HRIC that Fu Yuxia was at the home of her brother, Fu Honghui, when a dozen police officers from Shanghai’s Luwan District Public Security Bureau arrived and forcibly detained her. Her family members have heard nothing from her since, and at last report, police were maintaining surveillance on the home of Fu’s brother.

Sources said that Fu, a petitioner on forced relocation issues who maintains regular contacts with the U.S. Consulate in Shanghai, was visited in her home by a consular official on February 13 after a leg injury affected her mobility. At the time of the consul’s visit, about a dozen other petitioners were at Fu’s home, including Chen Xiaoming, Chen Enjuan and Sun Yuzhen. On February 14, the petitioners began a hunger strike in support of detained lawyer Gao Zhisheng.

Less than a year ago, on February 25, 2005, police held and interrogated petitioner Chen Xiaoming for several hours after detaining him while he was on his way to the U.S. Consulate. Fu Yuxia was with Chen at the time, but was not detained.