China has detained 10 women human rights activists to prevent them holding national campaigns against sexual harassment on public transportation.

The campaigns are in line with the commemoration of the International Women's Day last Sunday. As of Sunday night, at least five of the women are still in jail, while five others have been set free after being subjected to interrogation.

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The group, Chinese Human Rights Defenders, says the women who were arrested had timed their activities with the start of the International Women's Day. The organization had posted the plight of the detained women on Twitter.

The group is an advocacy group based outside China.

As they talked about the detentions, they also questioned the law enforcers in Beijing and Guangzhou on what crimes were committed by the accused.

"Ask Beijing and Guangzhou police: Is it a crime to speak out about sexual harassment in China?" the group asked in a Twitter post.

A few hours after they published their posts about the detention of the 10 women, the Chinese Human Rights Defenders made another post. This time, they reported that another activist, Wu Rongrong, is also in jail in Hangzhou.

Wu has reportedly been in police custody since Saturday. The 30-year-old activist had founded a women's center in Hangzhou.

A friend of Wu says she and Wu have worked for Yirenping, a non-profit group that advocates equal rights for persons who are afflicted with hepatitis, H.I.V and AIDS. They also support projects for persons with disabilities.

These incidents of detentions are not the only ones reported in China, in relation to the International Women's Day.

Last Friday evening, police officers in Beijing nabbed Li Tingting, who uses the pseudonym Li Maizi. In 2012, when she was a 22 year-old student, she got the attention of school authorities when she urged them to build more public toilets for women.

On the same day Li was arrested, another activist in Guangzhou, Zheng Churan, was also taken into custody by the police.

The police searched both the homes of Li and and Zheng.

Tagsinternational women's day, Human Rights, Activists, Chinese Human Rights Defenders