Beijing Authorities to Ban Blacks and Mongolians from Bars During Olympics

I have to agree with jli here. I don't see anything in this article that would indicate this is a pattern of discrimination. There is one line that says that the police targetted anyone with dark skin but there is no discussion on what was the evidence this raid if this was just profiling of Africans or if there was some real evidence supporting it. The article even states that the police rarely get involved with foreigners.

 

What if it was Tmac?

 

Drug dealers usually face harsh penalties in China. Many are executed if convicted. But I won't be surprised there exists some kind of affirmative action (aka extra leniency) applicable to the blacks caught selling drugs in China.

As to the story of the thread, the policy of banning blacks seems too ridiculous to be true. Note the black British interviewee in the report has plenty of opportunities to confirm whether the allegation is true but he simply couldn't, instead he elected to opine on speculation.

There are many foreign advisers to the Beijing Olympic organizing committee. I speculate this could well be one of the advices they offer to the host.

 

This sounds too ridiculous to believe. After looking for other sources on this, I find on Danwei (its sort of a news blog based in Beijing) that no one can confirm this.

 

This is kinda outrageous if it is true.

Which kind of website is this article originally from?

Does anyone has the real link to it?

 

http://www.zhongnanhaiblog.com/2007/09/black-men-are-rounded-up-and-b.htm

Black men are rounded up and beaten in Sanlitun drug sting
By Cam on September 24, 2007 4:22 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)
I live in Sanlitun, and have recently noticed a lack of drug dealers in the area. This article in the South China Morning Post, titled "Beijing police target black men in 'brutal' drug operation" might explain why. (SCMP, as you are surely aware, is behind a paysite -- thus the lack of a link):

Dozens of black tourists and expatriates, including the son of the Grenadian ambassador, were arrested and some badly beaten during an apparently indiscriminate anti-drug operation by Beijing police.
About 30 men, mostly African or Caribbean, were detained as dozens of baton-wielding security guards and uniformed police swept through Beijing's nightlife district, Sanlitun.

Students, tourists and the ambassador's son Joslyn Whiteman Jnr were among those wrestled to the ground, handcuffed and hauled to a nearby police station.


The ambassador mentioned in the article that his son was beaten for no reason. He ended up spending the night in hospital. Other people also witnessed the round-up:

"It was pretty brutal," Beijing-based magazine editor Alex Reid said.
"I saw a man being beaten by six guys in camouflage. He was covered in blood. The police seemed to be targeting anyone who was black."

Thabo Lieket, a 24-year-old student from Lesotho, was among those arrested and later released without charge. He thought the police assumed he was dealing in drugs because he was black, he said.

"They were rounding up all the black people; it was pretty frightening," he said. "I was walking with some friends past one of the bars when I was grabbed by some of the guys in camouflage. They dragged us all to the police station, where we were put in the same cell."

 

Uh - considering that he's not a bar owner in sanlitun how would he have opportunities to confirm or deny - Or were you there when this interview took place?

 

He could just go to a bar to see if he's barred, couldn't he?

 

First he would have to get a time machine and fast forward to the olympics.

Second - why is he obligated to do this? Maybe he's not even thirsty. he didn't write the article. It's just a standard "reac quote" that you put in a news article.

 

If it results in ' a lack of drug dealers in the area', I think the police did a pretty good job.

 

I can see SamFisher jumping up and down when he saw this thread today. He must have devoted the whole morning to dig up past articles from some blog sites in order to 'confirm' this news. Everyone knows Sam is very skillful with using google.

Now SamFisher is one step closer in his crusade to prove that Chinese are more evil than the Nazi and the Imperial Japanese. I know he has been working really hard but I hope he can soon find something from his beloved BBC or Reuters to confirm the discrimination rather than relying on some blog sites which talked about unrelated events 1 year ago.

 

Yes, we Americans are spoiled by this concept of civil rights and due process.

 

Why didn't the ambassador's son tell them, "I'm a Whiteman"?

 

I rejoice at the opportunity to bring truth to China. It is an honor to be taken so seriously by its netizens.

 

If you resist arrest, you will get beaten by the police. why is it so hard to understand ?

 

in the u.s., you can't arrest someone because they are black.

 

civil right to sell drugs ?

 

NewYorker, I don't see anything in all the articles that SamFisher and his ilks posted indicating someone is wrongly convicted in these drug sting operations, which means the due process is not a problem here. *Innocent* people can be wrongly rounded up if they happen to be in the wrong place at the wrong time, even in countries where civil rights and due process are held high.

 

I know that. I have been in this country for over 15 years. The Chinese government can act dumb sometimes, but I don't think they are that dumb to discriminate the black people in front of the whole world. I suspect this just is a part of smear compaign to make China look bad.