Just a quick update on the Beijing police’s docile efforts to harmonize Sanlitun’s streets (nothing like a good bit of “soft power”). Associated Press (via Yahoo News here) released the following report yesterday in which the police denied targeting black men:
BEIJING - Beijing authorities denied Thursday that a weekend raid on a bar district in which police allegedly beat the son of Grenada’s ambassador specifically targeted black men.
A police statement said the crackdown netted five illegal residents.
The raid early Saturday in the popular Sanlitun district stunned the city’s expatriate community because it was violent and appeared to target only black men. It prompted Grenada Ambassador Joslyn Whiteman to demand an explanation of the incident from the Chinese Foreign Ministry.
Whiteman’s son, 22-year-old Joslyn Paul Whiteman Jr., suffered a concussion while being detained during the raid. He was held for several hours, then released without charge.
An American who witnessed the raid said two to three dozen people were detained, all black, with police using varying degrees of force to restrain them, including beating some with rubber truncheons.
But police denied that blacks were the focus of the raid.
“The action was not targeted at any specific group of people,” said an official surnamed Zhao at the information office of the Beijing Public Security Bureau.
“The police action that night was aimed at rectifying social order,” said Zhao, who refused to give his full name.
A South China Morning Post reporter who witnessed and wrote about the incident reported Monday that police on the scene told him that it was an anti-drug operation.
Zhao said such social order actions do address crimes involving drugs but that none of the people detained that night was charged with drug crimes.
In a separate statement earlier Thursday, the Public Security Bureau said five of the detained people were charged with illegal residence. It gave no additional details.
A duty officer at China’s Foreign Ministry said the matter was being investigated. He declined to give his name in line with ministry policy.
One of the few things the police did say to the South China Morning Post reporter outside the station last Friday was: “This is an anti-drug operation.” A resounding success all round then according to Mr Zhao at the PSB.
“Zhao said … that none of the people detained that night was charged with drug crimes”.
Beijing Newspeak :: Crude drug raid highlights ignorance of Beijing’s police | 28-Sep-07 at 12:23 pm | Permalink
[...] http://www.beijingnewspeak.com/2007/09/28/sanlitun-saga-update-anti-drug-operation-uncovers-no-drugs... [...]
notblocked | 28-Sep-07 at 2:57 pm | Permalink
The China Daily website had a thread about this for a few hours until it was taken down. Many expats supported the sweep and didn’t care whether a few inncocent black people got rounded up and bashed by the cops.
chriswaugh_bj | 29-Sep-07 at 10:39 am | Permalink
This is hardly a surprise. I don’t go to Sanlitun often, but on one trip just after last Spring Festival you could hardly move without bumping into a very, very obvious drug dealer- it’s the look in their eyes as they size you up as a potential customer. Then the last couple of trips their this summer I’ve been shocked- shocked, I tell you- by the complete absence of anybody trying to sell me anything illicit. Well, there’s been drug paraphernalia openly on sale, but nobody trying to sell me the reason for such paraphernalia.
And sure, they weren’t targeting black men. They were after people of the dark-skinned variety.
MAC | 30-Sep-07 at 7:32 pm | Permalink
There’s a difference between nobody being charged with drug offenses and no drugs being found. While I wouldn’t be surprised if they really didn’t find any drugs, (either because people who were carrying dropped their stash or because everyone was smart enough not to have their stash on them, and the police, just rushing in, didn’t do proper surveillance to locate the drugs first) it seems just as likely that the penalty for drug offenses being death, (or so they say, I don’t know the specific laws or if there’s much variation in level of punishment) that they just deported everybody since executing a bunch of foreigners would probably be bad press.
zhwj | 01-Oct-07 at 5:37 pm | Permalink
And last, the Xinhua report of the police explanation, filed close to midnight the day before a major holiday so there’s no one to ask questions about how it was that so many people were taken in for not having papers, and then let go after producing their papers at the police station: link.
MAC | 01-Oct-07 at 8:46 pm | Permalink
I saw that and thought it looked an awful lot like the aftermath of this incident, but that says Sunday night, wasn’t the black-guy-roundup on Friday night? I could see how they could fudge the dates by one day, (12:30 AM Saturday is still “Friday night” to most people, of course) but by two days? Could there have been an ID-checking follow-up? Still sounds related, whether it’s the same incident or not.
Ben | 04-Oct-07 at 4:10 pm | Permalink
I don’t want to sound as if I am supporting the raid or the motives behind the raid, whatever they were, but I do have to say that on nearly every occasion I have been to San Li Tun, African guys have openly tried to sell me drugs. Is it any wonder they were the target of the raid?
Nubianem | 11-Jan-08 at 1:21 pm | Permalink
This is not good for the image of ‘one world,’ that is being pushed for the Olympics. The attack on Black men reminds one VERY CLEARLY of the attacks on African students during the mid 1990’s, over the dating of Chinese women by African men.
There are many African and Pan-African college students getting ready to attend the Olympic games, LET’S HOPE THEY ARE NOT ‘TARGETED’ (AFTER BEING RATTED ON BY SOME AS ‘DEALERS’ ) AND BRUTALIZED BASED ON A LIE.
This attack on Black people is insulting to the GLOBAL BLACK DIASPORA, PARTICULARLY IF THESE ARE INNOCENT PEOPLE.
However, when one remembers how Sudan, West Papua and other places occupied by Blacks are facing what many call genocide, then people have to start wondering.
Africans must remember WHO WE ARE, WHERE WE ARE AND WHERE WE’RE GOING.
BET THE PEOPLE WHO BRUTALIZED THE BLACKS WILL NEVER ROUND UP SOME WHITE AMERICANS, OR WHITE EUROPEANS, WHITE AUSTRALIANS AND BRUTALIZE THEM.
Bet they will never target ANY WHITES AS POTENTIAL CRIMINALS.
Africans/Pan-Africans better STOP SLEEPING AND STOP BEING TRICKED BY ‘TRINKETS.’
There is an ancient saying in Africa, ‘the albino cannot escape the burning of the sun,’ and that phrase suits perfectly the ‘PERCEIVED REASONS’ WHY THE BLACK PEOPLE WERE TARGETED — skin color. However, the time will come when pale skin will bring no benefit, and particularly not from nature.
We better start recognizing our genuine friends immediately before it is too late.
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