Campaigners wearing "Where is Peng Shuai?" t-shirts at Wimbledon have said they have been confronted by "suspicious" Wimbledon security staff.
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The group of men said they arrived at the championships on Monday morning via the Queue but did not change into their t-shirts until they were inside the grounds.
They said they had come to Wimbledon to "raise a bit of awareness" after the conversation around the Chinese tennis player had "died down".
The former Wimbledon doubles champion disappeared from public view last year after she accused a senior Chinese official of sexual assault in November 2021.
She later appeared on state media but observers said the appearances seemed to be staged in response to foreign pressure.
Will Hoyles, 39, one of the campaigners who works for the Free Tibet campaign, said they were quickly confronted by "suspicious" security staff as they walked around the Wimbledon grounds on Monday.
Speaking to the PA news agency, he said: "We came trying to raise a bit of awareness but Wimbledon have managed to make it worse for themselves by harassing us."
Mr Hoyles added: "They were asking loads of questions about what we were going to do, why we were here, what we'd already done etc.
"And we told them we'd just been wandering around and we'd spoken to a few people and that's when they seemed to get quite suspicious."
He added that the staff told them they "should not approach anyone to talk to them".
"They said repeatedly the club doesn't like to be political," he said.
"We said to them we don't believe the message is political because we are simply asking where a tennis player is, where a Wimbledon champion is."
Mr Hoyles said the security staff disagreed and asked if they were planning anything else before searching their bags for any flags or banners.
An All England Club spokesperson said: "We can confirm that four guests were approached today by security whilst walking outside No.1 Court.
"These individuals are now enjoying their day with us and continue to be able to wear their t-shirts.
"Like much of the tennis community and people around the world more broadly, we remain very concerned for Peng Shuai and we continue to support the WTA's efforts."
Australian Associated Press
