Scuffles outside Chinese activist Pu Zhiqiang’s trial

At the trail, which lasted three hours, Pu said he had intension to incite communal trouble although he did write the micro blogs commenting on the ground situation in western China’s Xinjiang province, which is faced with a severe terrorism problem.

Chinese police push away journalists and supporters of human rights lawyer Pu Zhiqiang demonstrating near the Beijing Second Intermediate People’s Court in Beijing on December 14, 2015.

Diplomats including Dan Biers, the deputy political counselor for the U.S. Embassy in Beijing, were shoved as they attempted to read aloud statements on the proceedings.

“[Pu] should not be subject to continuing repression but should be allowed to contribute to the building of a…”, Biers said before being drowned out and bundled away by bellowing Chinese police officers.

Mr Pu was arrested after he attended an event to mark the 25th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square protest, in which he participated as a student.

“Secondly, he said that if these microblog posts had caused injury to other people, he apologises for it. Thirdly, he had no intention to incite ethnic hatred or pick quarrels and provoke trouble”.

At least one journalist also was slammed to the group during the scuffles, the Foreign Correspondents Club of China reported.

Teng Biao, a prominent Chinese human rights lawyers and now a visiting scholar at Harvard Kennedy School, at a restaurant in Beijing, China, on August 14, 2013.

One of China’s most celebrated human rights lawyers went on trial over online comments critical of the ruling Communist Party, as police scuffled with supporters and journalists outside the courthouse. Pu Zhiqiang is one of hundreds of lawyers and activists detained over the last two years under Xi Jinping’s rule.

The case reportedly rests on seven posts that Pu made on a Twitter-like messaging service, according to Pu’s lawyers.

The lawyer, who defended the artist Ai Weiwei, and has handled a number of sensitive cases, has been in custody for 19 months and denied contact with his family during that time. Since his detention, human rights groups and foreign diplomats have warned over his deteriorating health and called for his release.

An online search for Pu Zhiqiang’s Chinese name on the popular social media platform Weibo said the results were blocked due to “relevant laws, regulations and policies”.

A diplomat speaking on behalf of the European Union was also shouted down as she delivered a statement outside the court criticising the process. He faces up to eight years in jail if found guilty. The spokesman said that “law enforcement authorities carried out order management at the scene in accordance with the law”.

As proof of his quarrel-picking, Chinese prosecutors marshaled seven weibo posts-the Chinese equivalents of Tweets. Three of the posts insulted government officials and supporters, including Mao Zedong’s grandson; the other four criticized policies towards minorities such as Tibetans and Uighur Muslims.

The court’s verdict, expected in the next few weeks, will be seen as a bellwether for human rights activism in China.

“Pu Zhiqiang has always been very outspoken on ethnic issues, and that’s what I most admire about him, as a member of an ethnic minority myself”, Xinna told RFA on Monday.