A day in the park for Chinese activist Chen
- 12 years ago
ROUGH CUT (NO REPORTER NARRATION)
STORY: Blind activist Chen Guangcheng and his family relaxed in the park of their New York residential compound on Tuesday afternoon, days after their arrival from China.
Chen, his wife Yuan Weijing and their two children arrived in the United States on Saturday evening, after Chen escaped house arrest in his eastern China village to the U.S. embassy in Beijing.
On Tuesday, the family were accompanied by aides and plain clothed men who appeared to be personal security guards.
Chen, aged 40, a self-taught lawyer who has been the center of a diplomatic rift between the word's two largest economies, will study law and learn English at New York University (NYU) in an arrangement designed to ease tension over the Communist country's treatment of rights activists and dissidents.
Before his arrival in New York, Chen had spent nearly three weeks in a Beijing hospital, where he was receiving treatment for a foot injury incurred during his flight to the U.S. embassy.
Chen was jailed for about four years starting in 2006. He had accused Shandong province officials of forcing women to have late-term abortions and sterilization's, and authorities charged him with whipping up a crowd that disrupted traffic and damaged property.
While seeking refuge at the embassy, Chen originally said he wanted to remain in China. But after leaving the mission, he changed his mind and announced he wanted to come to the United States.
STORY: Blind activist Chen Guangcheng and his family relaxed in the park of their New York residential compound on Tuesday afternoon, days after their arrival from China.
Chen, his wife Yuan Weijing and their two children arrived in the United States on Saturday evening, after Chen escaped house arrest in his eastern China village to the U.S. embassy in Beijing.
On Tuesday, the family were accompanied by aides and plain clothed men who appeared to be personal security guards.
Chen, aged 40, a self-taught lawyer who has been the center of a diplomatic rift between the word's two largest economies, will study law and learn English at New York University (NYU) in an arrangement designed to ease tension over the Communist country's treatment of rights activists and dissidents.
Before his arrival in New York, Chen had spent nearly three weeks in a Beijing hospital, where he was receiving treatment for a foot injury incurred during his flight to the U.S. embassy.
Chen was jailed for about four years starting in 2006. He had accused Shandong province officials of forcing women to have late-term abortions and sterilization's, and authorities charged him with whipping up a crowd that disrupted traffic and damaged property.
While seeking refuge at the embassy, Chen originally said he wanted to remain in China. But after leaving the mission, he changed his mind and announced he wanted to come to the United States.