A small group of Maoist protesters gathered near a courthouse in central China yesterday, demonstrating their support for a politician whose fall has disrupted the Communist party’s carefully choreographed leadership transfer this year.
About a dozen men and women from all over China met ahead of the trial of the wife of Bo Xilai, the former Chongqing party secretary whose popular profile has forced the party to manage a delicate political balancing act. Gu Kailai and a Bo family aide, Zhang Xiaojun, stand accused of poisoning Neil Heywood, a British businessman who worked as a fixer for the Bos.
Mr Bo was detained by party investigators in connection with “severe discipline violations”, but has not been charged with any wrongdoing in relation to the alleged murder of Heywood.