Xian (AsiaNews/RFA) – Chinese police confiscated wreaths and floral tributes sent to the family of Lin Mu during the ex-Communist leader's funeral service that was held yesterday in Sanzhao crematorium in Xian.

Police officials monitored the whole ceremony and took note of the participants, who were mostly democracy campaigners from all over China.

Lin, an ex-Communist leader, was expelled by the party after he supported the 1989 pro-democracy movement. He died in his home in Xian, in Shaanxi province on 15 October, aged 79.

Lin, aide and friend of the ex-secretary of the Communist Party, Hu Yaobang, was expelled three times by government leaders: twice during the Cultural Revolution and again after the crackdown on anti-corruption and pro-democracy protests in Tiananmen Square that erupted after the death of his mentor. According to some participants at the funeral service, he "paid a high price for his loyalty to Hu's reforms".

No speeches were delivered during the commemoration. The family said it did "not want any confrontation with the police" and asked those present "not to react to police provocation".

From Beijing, where he is under house arrest, Bao Tong – former aide and friend of another reformist, ex-secretary of the PCC, Zhao Zhiyang – wrote an eulogy for Lin.

Bao wrote: "He...was cruelly punished for his steadfast support for Hu's reform program. In 1989, he supported, and took part in, the student-led pro-democracy movement, which led to his being expelled from the Party. He continued to do his utmost to speak out for human rights."

Bao recalled the open letter in which Lin had called for revision of the Communist condemnation of the Tiananmen Square movement. "It didn't have the desired effect. But the force of justice is a fearless thing, and this was just one more expression of the iron will of the people, battered but not broken."