Chen Guancheng: 'Thugs attacked my family'

Chen Guangcheng, the Chinese dissident who arrived in the New York earlier this month, has spoken at an event at the Council on Foreign Relations.

He said that "hired thugs" retaliated against his brother's family after he left his home.

The blind human rights lawyer caused a diplomatic crisis when he fled to the US embassy in Beijing last month.

He was allowed to go abroad to study law at New York University.

Mr Chen spent almost a week at the US embassy before going to a hospital for treatment of injuries sustained during his flight from house arrest in late April.

After weeks of uncertainty, the activist, his wife Yuan Weijing and their two children were allowed to fly to the US on 19 May.