China Cracks Down As Nobel Prize Awarded to Liu Xiaobo

Chinese pro-democracy activists were barred from gathering or leaving the country in the run-up to today’s Nobel ceremony.

In a series of moves that seemed to underscore the need for democratic reforms in China, supporters of Liu Xiaobo were placed under house arrest and their internet and phone lines cut as the Nobel Peace Prize ceremony honouring the dissident went ahead in Oslo Friday. Xiaobo remains in a Chinese prison and his chair was left symbolically empty at the ceremony. Beijing detained his wife and prevented activists from leaving the country to stop them from accepting the award on his behalf, and the $1.4 million cash prize that accompanies it has gone unclaimed. International news networks airing in China went dark intermittently throughout the day and texts containing the words “Liu Xiaobo” and “Nobel Prize” were blocked.