Update | Chinese rights lawyer Pu Zhiqiang goes on trial over social media posts criticising Communist Party

Outspoken lawyer Pu Zhiqiang, who once said his life mission was to fight for civil rights, went on trial in a Beijing court on Monday in what is widely seen as a political trial.

Security was tight outside the Beijing No 2 Intermediate People’s Court on Monday morning, with dozens of police officers standing guard, pushing away supporters, journalists and foreign diplomats who tried to get near. Unidentified men were also seen shoving people outside the courtroom.

Several of Pu's supporters were seen being taken away by police. Across the street from the courtroom, several supporters held up sheets of paper that said: “Speech freedom” and “Lawyer Pu is innocent”.

Pu, famed for defending dissidents and rights activists, has been charged with “inciting ethnic hatred” and “picking quarrels and provoking trouble” over the content of seven microblog, or weibo, messages that he posted online between July 2011 and May 2014. He faces a maximum sentence of eight years.