According to New Tang Dynasty, Beijing rights lawyer Li Heping claimed to have been taking a phone call from one of the lawyers, Tang Tianhao, when security guards allegedly attacked.

Spiritual group

Mr Li said the group also included lawyers Tang Jitian and Jiang Tianyong.
According to the report, the lawyers were trying to visit the Ziyang Municipal Legal Education Centre in Ziyang City in southwest China’s Sichuan Province.
The facility was allegedly created to detain followers of the spiritual group Falun Gong, which has been persecuted in China since 1999.
Mr Li claimed the detention centre was holding several hundred people there illegally.