At around 1pm on Thursday, an explosive device was detonated outside the U.S. embassy in Beijing. The Washington Post’s Danielle Paquette and Emily Rauhala report:
As the crowd scattered, police quickly apprehended the suspect, whom they identified as a man from Inner Mongolia with the last name Jiang. The blast hurt his hand, authorities said.
[…] But less than an hour later, the scene was largely clear and the embassy was again open for business. More than a hundred people stood outside, some unaware that a bomber had recently ignited a device less than 100 meters away.
Only a trail of blood remained on the sidewalk. Onlookers crouched around the droplets, snapping photos on their phones.
Police told reporters to leave.
As rumors swirled Thursday, the Global Times, a Communist Party-controlled newspaper, reported there had been an attempted self-immolation at the same spot at 11:00 a.m., briefly creating confusion about what took place. It is unclear whether that incident occurred. Local police have not commented. [Source]
Due to the location of the blast, journalists were able to reach the scene within minutes, and witness on-the-ground information control and containment efforts including attempted police intimidation, the apparent detention of a woman who shared images with reporters, and the ad hoc recruitment of cleaners from a nearby compound. Others, meanwhile, watched online as the initial burst of social media activity around the explosion was quickly stifled. (According to China Media Project, which compiled some of the deleted Weibo posts, “a search on Weibo for ’embassy’ (大使馆) now turns up an array of official responses to the explosion, including information from the official Weibo account of the Beijing police, and the response from China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs as reported by the Global Times.”)
A Twitter thread from AFP’s Becky Davis recorded the woman’s detention:
Have a taste of Chinese rule of law at Beijing US embassy explosion site! Scene 1: A bystander (woman w flower print shirt @ far right) kindly decided to share images and video – apparently passed to her by a friend – w a scrum of journalists via WeChat pic.twitter.com/EnfBkuMcoy
— Rebecca Davis (@rebeccaludavis) July 26, 2018
The internet enables journalism/sharing! Er, sort of. Images of the bloodied ground (aftermath) come through on WeChat but not her video material despite multiple tries – already a bit fishy pic.twitter.com/9veBxy98ih
— Becky Davis (@rebeccaludavis) July 26, 2018
I turn my back for sec and next thing I know the poor woman has been dragged across the street away from the journos by plainclothes men o.O pic.twitter.com/F2aRaVFk6b
— Becky Davis (@rebeccaludavis) July 26, 2018
Scene 2: I chase them.
“Take her into the hotel,” green shirt guy says.
“Why do you have to take this woman away?” I ask. No answer
“Get out of here quick. Dad’s waiting for you at home,” green shirt guy says, forcibly grabbing her pic.twitter.com/mOjGHFuF7Q— Becky Davis (@rebeccaludavis) July 26, 2018
Scene 3: The abduction.
“Why? What has she done wrong?” I ask.
“This is a family matter!” says green shirt.
It gets loud but I basically stuck my head in the car so could hear her loud and clear: “I do not know that man. I didn’t do anything! I was just a bystander!” pic.twitter.com/1974flP64s— Becky Davis (@rebeccaludavis) July 26, 2018
Scene 4: The verdict
I love this. Sorry it’s upside down.
“Can I ask if that woman did anything wrong? Do u know what happened to her?” I ask.
“I’m sorry, I’m enforcing the law,” says cop, scuttling away like an awkward teen at a school dance (LOL)
Ohhh that’s what you’re doing pic.twitter.com/PQpaQVG09i— Becky Davis (@rebeccaludavis) July 26, 2018
Cop 2 also doesn’t know why she was taken.
Cop 3: “It’s not convenient now for us to do interviews. We don’t know. Please leave – there are too many people here.”— Becky Davis (@rebeccaludavis) July 26, 2018
Later as I was leaving, ran into Cop 1. “What media do you work for? Where are you from?” he asked, increasingly aggressive. When I wouldn’t say he said: “I have control over your visa!” China’s go-to in the field these days: threatening expulsion for critical coverage
— Becky Davis (@rebeccaludavis) July 26, 2018
Having a plainclothes pose as a relative seems common. Saw this scene near Houhai in May en route to a friend’s bday. Man helping shuttle her into van told me he was her bf. Bystanders said she’d talked back at cops for chasing away a busker, & asked them to let him keep singing. pic.twitter.com/NWPuJk7xKH
— Becky Davis (@rebeccaludavis) July 26, 2018
From others:
A few plainclothes policemen are trying to scrub off marks on a sidewalk next to the American Embassy in Beijing. Pedestrians are asked to turn back. “Don’t take photos; otherwise you’ll be detained,” a policeman blocking the road said. pic.twitter.com/1d6GsaeQcE
— Xinyan Yu (@xinyanyu) July 26, 2018
Weibo just censored all postings about explosion outside the US embassy, also deleted a topic page with the hashtag "explosion took place at US embassy" that had been viewed nearly a million times. pic.twitter.com/FImr6ed8j4
— Nectar Gan (@Nectar_Gan) July 26, 2018
Beijing police totally avoided any mention of "the US embassy" in their official announcement.
— Nectar Gan (@Nectar_Gan) July 26, 2018
if you're interested in this sort of thing: a thread that shows how and when bits of information were collected about breaking news (the explosion at the u.s. embassy in beijing) and turned into a story. https://t.co/B95Wq69kEv
— Gerry Doyle (@mgerrydoyle) July 26, 2018
I was about 500 meters away and heard the explosion. Have never heard a BOOM like that before. Blast Rocks Area Outside United States Embassy in Beijing https://t.co/Td6XNvS6j6
— Sui-Lee Wee 黄瑞黎 (@suilee) July 26, 2018
Was called by plaitclothes Chinese Traitor today. What did I do? pic.twitter.com/XAptFi94Pb
— Fu Beimeng? (@BeimengFu) July 26, 2018
Bystanders said at least one person who received a group interview was taken away right after.
— Fu Beimeng (@BeimengFu) July 26, 2018
The group of cleaners were called in out of emergency from a nearby residential compound to clean up the scene. They didn't even work for the state, but a commercial company. Migrant workers from places like Henan.
— Fu Beimeng (@BeimengFu) July 26, 2018
Two hours later, Weibo allowed blue-checkmarked verified accounts of various media outlets to post about the explosion (in line with official statement), but earlier postings by users (including photos and footage) and relevant topic pages are no where to be found.
— Nectar Gan (@Nectar_Gan) July 26, 2018
[#Censored] Chinese Weibo blogger witnessed huge blast at US embassy in #Beijing this afternoon. Post was quickly censored in half an hour. "美国大使馆爆炸。。。呃 ？ " Date: 2018-07-26 13:30:46 Censored time:: 2018-07-26 14:09:45 pic.twitter.com/QKo3o2fSeh
— Weiboscope (@Weiboscope) July 26, 2018
I guess that's what the Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman meant when he said Chinese police have dealt with the incident in a "timely and appropriate manner." https://t.co/ir8BrdqJcU
— Chun Han Wong 王春翰 (@ByChunHan) July 26, 2018
According to Chinese media, a number of bloggers witnessed a 'large explosion' outside US embassy in Beijing. However, news was blocked on social media. "据多名网友爆料，刚刚，在位于北京的美国驻华大使馆附近疑似发生爆炸。使馆附近已经拉起了警戒线" 凤凰周刊 2018-07-26 13:47:45
— Weiboscope (@Weiboscope) July 26, 2018
[Censored] Chinese blogger is asking for an update of the sudden bang outside US Embassy in #Beijing, China.
Date: 2018-07-26 13:49:20
Censored time:: 2018-07-26 14:34:28 pic.twitter.com/07047sWLYQ— Weiboscope (@Weiboscope) July 26, 2018
[#Censored] Hong Kong media reported on suspected self-immolation near US embassy in Beijing. However, news was censored in a minute.
Content: 港媒：北京美国驻华大使馆外发生爆炸 疑似访民引爆炸药
Date: 2018-07-26 13:51:40
Censored time:: 2018-07-26 14:34:17— Weiboscope (@Weiboscope) July 26, 2018
So what happened to the arrested woman who tried to set herself on fire with gasoline outside the #USembassy in #Beijing earlier in the day? NYT and GlobalTimes cited witnesses. All accounts about the self-immolation attempt censored on Weibo. Official statement made no mention.
— Nectar Gan (@Nectar_Gan) July 26, 2018
The concerning thing was that police spent a lot of their attention today on things like this below and chasing reporters who were filming. If they were scanning the crowd for any secondary bombings, it was not visible. No checking bags, etc. https://t.co/9r90c1aJfw
— Eva Dou (@evadou) July 26, 2018
thread. The Chinese information management cycle. An event happens. It is then 'un-happened'. Finally an official version is 're-happened' https://t.co/ar2tQVL3ia
— jamie k (@jkbloodtreasure) July 26, 2018
