was "on its feet next to his bed, with a white strip of cloth tied tightly around its neck and connected to a window bar above". The authorities said to relatives that there would be an autopsy. Although the latter were denied permission to take photographs, some stills and one video made it onto the internet. Later, i-Cable television in Hong Kong reported that officials had been attempting to persuade Li's family members to cremate his body immediately. Domestic reaction Official statements that Li had committed suicide caused "outrage" among China's dissident community, as his family questioned how Li would have been capable of killing himself. They said that leaving aside his minders, Li was blind and nearly deaf and could "barely hold a bowl without his hands shaking". Friends and local activists strongly allege that Li "was suicided" (), and formed a 'Committee in quest of the truth about Li's death'. The Wall Street Journal commented that Chinese activists on Twitter had begun to tweet their own declarations that they had no plans to commit suicide (); dissident Hu Jia recommended that fellow dissidents who are frequently arrested and political prisoners prepare a notarised statement declaring one's lack of intention to commit suicide. To avoid internet censorship, "suicided" became a web-search term of choice. HRIC said Li's sister had been detained by police and was taken to a hotel where they were being held. Media reported that Li's family was under pressure to consent to an autopsy, and that police had given an ultimatum of noon on 8 June. Family members were denied access to the body since police removed it from the hospital. The Information Centre for Human Rights and Democracy conveyed that Li's next of kin were prepared to grant an autopsy subject to the presence of a lawyer from outside Shaoyang. On 8 June, an autopsy of Li's body was carried out by authorities in Shaoyang, apparently against the wishes of his family, and the body was cremated on 9 June. According to the Information Centre for Human Rights and Democracy, an unnamed member of staff at a funeral parlour implied that the government ordered the cremation; another worker told Cable TV that Li's sister and brother-in-law had given signed consent. According to Shaoyang city authorities, people on Li's wards saw him "acting strangely" by the window at around 3 am on the day he died.