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Will Hoyles, Caleb Comton and Jason Leith with Where is Peng Shuai? shirts at Wimbledon
Photo:
Rebecca Speare-Cole / AP
Activists wearing T-shirts in support of Chinese tennis player Peng Shuai were briefly stopped by security personnel when they visited the classic Wimbledon lawn.
They had to have the contents of their backpacks checked on Monday, as reported by the AP news agency, among others.
They were asked: 'Are you planning any direct protests?
Are you planning to disrupt things?” said Jason Leith of Free Tibet.
After the search, the quartet was allowed to continue with the shirts through the facility.
Last year, Leith was arrested in Greece for disrupting an Olympic flame ceremony.
The blaze was en route to China ahead of this year's Beijing Winter Olympics.
"We can confirm that four guests were approached by security today while walking outside Court 1," Wimbledon organizers said.
»They now enjoy the day with us and can continue to wear their T-shirts.
Like many in the tennis community and many people around the world, we remain deeply concerned for Peng Shuai and we continue to support the efforts of the WTA."
According to Leith, however, they were asked not to discuss Peng with other tournament guests.
No women's tournaments in China
Peng's case drew a lot of attention after she allegedly alleged sexual abuse of a high-ranking Chinese politician on the social network Weibo last November.
The post was deleted soon after.
The state censorship had also blocked any debate on the Chinese Internet about it.
Since then, athletes, politicians and human rights activists have expressed their concern.
Peng later denied making the allegations.
During the Winter Olympics in Beijing in February, she met with IOC President Thomas Bach for a discussion.
Peng has won two Grand Slam tournaments in doubles, including Wimbledon in 2013.
The women's tennis professional organization WTA has canceled all tournaments in China due to the situation surrounding Peng.
mfu/dpa