Reuters and South China Morning Post reported on the recent violent police crackdown on suspected African drug dealers in noisy Sanlitun bar district in Beijing. Beijing based blogger, Chris O’Brien, has more stories to tell. From Beijing Newspeak:
I have no doubt the SCMP report can be taken as read as I consider the author of the article – housemate, friend of ten years and a member of my journalism class – to be a very reliable source. He was present at the scene of the chaos on Friday night, having a beer outside the Saddle bar opposite Tongli Studios. I feel it is worth detailing exactly what happened, away from the constraints of a limited word count and the news story format.
At about 1am, a group of five or six men in camouflage uniform charged past the Saddle towards Poachers’ Inn. Their average age was around 18 and 19 – some looked as young as 16, others maybe 25 – and their scruffy appearance, straggly hair and gangly limbs made them look decidedly amateurish… [Full Text]
See additional blog entries on this incident:
– Strange fruit in Beijing from China Law Prof blog
– Beijing: Chinese police beat up Africans from Africabeat
– Excessive Force or Racism by Beijing Police? from China Expat
