Activists Wearing ‘Where is Peng Shuai’ T-Shirt Harassed, Searched By Wimbledon Security Guards

“Where is Peng Shuai?” T-shirts returned as four men wearing them were stopped and "harassed" by Wimbledon security guards on Monday.

Shuai, the retired tennis player from China, has made very few public appearances since she accused Zhang Gaoli, a former high-ranking member of the country’s ruling Communist Party, of sexual assault, reported South China Morning Post. She had made the claim last year.

Jason Leith of the Free Tibet organization said that after entering the grounds of the All England Club on Monday, he and his three colleagues put on the white T-shirts. Leith, who is British, said that they didn’t have the T-shirts on when they came in because they "worried about not being let in." So they put them on and were just walking around and a "few people wanted selfies with us, so we were taking pictures with people."

A short time later security arrived, and Leith said that the guards "started asking, ‘Are you planning to do any direct protesting? Are you planning on disrupting things?’” Then the guards asked if they could move aside so that they could search their bags. The guards started going through the four activists' bags. Leith guessed that they were looking for flags or anything that "might be used in any other form of protest.” He added that the four men were allowed to remain at the venue and keep wearing the T-shirts, but were asked not to approach any other spectators to talk about Shuai.

The Guardian reported that Will Hoyles, one of the campaigners, said that they went there "trying to raise a bit of awareness but Wimbledon have managed to make it worse for themselves by harassing us."

The activists were welcome to stay on site, said Wimbledon organizers. On day one of the tournament, All England Club CEO Sally Bolton said that a spectator with a shirt mentioning Shuai would be allowed to attend. But Bolton said that they do have ground entry rules, and those "ground entry rules are really focused on everyone’s quiet enjoyment of the tennis." The CEO added that it’s not about what people are wearing, "it’s about the way people behave.”