Trouble for daughters of Chinese dissidents

A human rights group says the daughters of two imprisoned Chinese labour activists have been detained after trying to meet their parents' lawyer in Beijing.

Citing reliable sources, the New York-based Human Rights in China says the daughters of activists Yao Fuxin and Xiao Yunliang were thrown out of their Beijing hotel room by police on Monday morning and put on a train back to Liaoyang, in the northeastern province of Liaoning.

On their return, they were detained and interrogated for more than 12 hours by Liaoyang police, before being released.

The organisation says the two women, Yao Dan and Xiao Yu, had travelled to the Chinese capital on March the First to try and meet Mo Shaoping, the lawyer handling their parents' case.

Yao Fuxin and Xiao Yunliang were among four labour leaders detained for helping coordinate massive protests in Liaoyang city a year ago to denounce corrupt factory officials and demand unpaid pensions and greater help for laid-off workers.

The demonstrations were among the largest Chinese worker's protests in the last decade.