SWEDEN: Police Arrest And Abandon Chinese Tourists At Cemetery

A Chinese family was reportedly taken to a cemetery in the Swedish capital of Stockholm last Sunday after being denied hotel check-in, according to a statement released by Chinese Embassy in Sweden, prompting massive discussions on social media both home and abroad.

After arriving at a Stockholm hotel in the early morning on September 2, a Chinese tourist, surnamed Zeng, with his 64 and 67 years old parents, found out that the room they booked was not available for check-in until later in the daytime.

Considering the poor health condition of his elderly parents, Zeng asked staff at the hotel if they could rest in the lobby and they would love to pay a fee.

Unexpectedly, the staff told them to leave immediately. If not, they would have to call the police, according to Zeng.

After the police arrived, Zeng showed the prescription of his parents to the police and asked if his parents could stay at the hotel and he would leave himself.

However, the police denied the request and dragged his father out of the hotel and threw him to the ground.

Zeng said his father, who is suffering from cardiovascular disease, lost consciousness and his body started twitching.

The scuffle gradually attracted more passersby, some of them condemned the police behavior.

The police offered no humanitarian assistance to us during the emergency, Zeng said.

Several minutes later, more armed police officers arrived and took Zeng and his parents into a police car.

The officers asked them if they were refugees or tried to use violence.

They kept beating my parents and even threatened to abandon us in the woods with wild animals, Zeng said.

After an hour of driving, Zeng found that he was together with his family taken to a cemetery, eight kilometers away from the hotel.

A half hour later, a passerby drove Zeng and his parents back to Stockholm downtown.

Upon arrival, Zeng immediately notified the Chinese Embassy and informed the local police of the incident.

We just wanted to leave this place and go back home, said Zeng.

The Chinese Embassy in Sweden issued a safety alert on September 14 reminding Chinese citizens in Sweden to be alert and take precautionary measures.

A day later, spokesperson of the Chinese Embassy in Sweden said that the embassy is deeply appalled and angered by what happened and strongly condemns the behavior of the Swedish police.

We hope that the Swedish side will handle the case in accordance with law, and urge the Swedish side again to take immediate actions to protect the safety and legitimate rights and interests of Chinese citizens in Sweden, the Embassy said in a statement.

The Swedish police department has yet to respond.

The incident has also sparked a heated discussion on Twitter.

"They should have claimed to be Syrian Migrants then they would have received a handsome #SocialWelfarePackage, a #FreePasstoAllCriminalActs and a #FreeAccomodation," said @Lizzie De on Twitter.

"I don't know what truth you are referring. If these tourists broke the laws or cause a scene, I believed there are standard procedures to handle them. But tossing them to somewhere near the cemetery sounds pretty awful. Unless you meant that's the Swedish police's standard', said @CheeKeat.

"To be fair, it is inappropriate for the hotel to do like that. But why didn't Zeng pay one more night for the room, especially when they know they will arrive in the midnight?" said @Suk_lowlow on China's Twitter-like Weibo platform.


Tourism Observer

SWEDEN: Chinese Ambassador Alarmed By Swedish Police Manhandling Chinese Tourists

Chinese Ambassador, Gui Congyou gave an interview in Stockholm on Sunday, talking about the brutal treatment of Chinese tourists by Swedish police and clarifying the recent issuing of travel alerts to the country.

There is doubt whether the Chinese Embassy in Sweden had carried out an in-depth inquiry of the incident before taking diplomatic action as there have been many versions of what happened on September 2.

Gui answered that the embassy had reached to relevant parties to get details about the incident from different perspectives, informed the Swedish government and then requested a meeting with Swedish police.

However, there was no response to the meeting request from the Swedish police.

Gui also clarified that the three Chinese tourists did have a reservation at the hotel and they just arrived several hours earlier and stressed that they did not break any Swedish law and urged the police to meet with the embassy.

We have received information from all parties involved, except the Swedish police,Gui said and questioned Why were the three Chinese citizens treated so brutally by the Swedish police when they did not break any Swedish law?

Why has the police not informed the Chinese Embassy of the incident nor responded to the requests for a meeting?

A journalist quickly explained that it frequently happens in Sweden that hotels call the police if tourists refuse to leave the property and the three stayed for a few more hours in the hotel after being told to leave.

In that case, the hotel has the right to remove them according to Swedish law.

Gui answered, If they did stay a few more hours in the hotel, it would already be dawn. But the whole thing happened during the late night.

It was late at night, and they were in a country thousands of miles away from home where they did not know anyone.

Arriving only a few hours earlier than the booking time, they were actually already the hotel's guests and needed assistance from the hotel.

Concerning the police reportedly manhandling out the family of three, Gui asked what the improper behaviors of the Swedish police.

Gui again asked, Did the Chinese tourists break any law? If they did, why did the police and hotel not contact the Chinese Embassy immediately?

Had the Embassy been contacted, we would have provided assistance to the three Chinese tourists immediately, Gui added.

Gui was asked to share his view on the security situation in Sweden as a travel alert to Sweden were issued.

On average the embassy receives two reports of Chinese tourists' wallets or passports being robbed or stolen per day.

Our colleagues often had to wake up midnight or work on weekends and holidays to replace their documents so that they could return home.

We have raised the issue to almost all the relevant Swedish government departments, but none of them said it was their responsibility.

Almost all of the robberies and thefts were reported to the police, but so far no case has received any reply from the police, not to say being solved. Gui says.

He stated that the embassy had issued many such alerts and all Chinese embassies and consulates abroad need to issue travel alerts or warnings when local security is bad or deteriorating to ensure the safety of life and properties of Chinese citizens abroad.

At the end of the interview, Gui emphasized the importance of the relations between China and Sweden and hoped that the two countries could work with the same goal and develop bilateral relations on the basis of equality, mutual respect and win-win cooperation.

The Swedish Embassy in China published a statement on this incident via Weibo, saying that the police officers involved will be investigated if a complaint is filed and prosecutors will carry out the investigation on the complaint that the officers broke the law and neglected their duties.


Tourism Observer

DENMARK: Fraudsters Pausing As Police Officers Rob Chinese Tourists In Denmark

Chinese embassy issues warning after fraudsters make away with visitors’ cash while pretending to check their documents

Chinese embassy in Denmark has warned tourists to beware of fraudsters posing as police officers.

The alert was published on the embassy’s website in Copenhagen on Saturday, saying that bogus police were checking tourists’ wallets and travel documents and stealing cash.

The fraudsters, speaking poor English, target Asian tourists from countries including China, South Korea and Japan.

The notice said tourists should check police officers’ ID cards carefully before agreeing to checks.

Copenhagen police started issuing warnings last year on social media about fraudsters posing as officers to steal from tourists.

About 210,000 Chinese people have visited Denmark this year, according to national tourism administration figures.



Tourism Observer

CHINA: Yulin Dog Meat Festival

Campaigners submit an 11 million signature petition calling for an end to China’s Yulin dog meat festival at Chinese Embassy London
Lychee and Dog Meat Festival, otherwise known as the Yulin Dog Festival, kicked off in southern China this week, amid a fevered pitch of demands from the international community for the city to halt the controversial event.

Critics of the festival, which this year have included celebrity condemnations from Matt Damon, Rooney Mara, and Joaquin Phoenix in a widely circulated PSA from non-profit organization Animal Hope and Wellness Foundation, have said that the festival is barbaric and baseless. Proponents meanwhile have argued that the practice of eating dog in Asia is a cultural one that predates modern history, and should be respected as a cultural tradition.

The festival has only existed since 2010, though dog hot-pots became popular within Yulin in the 90’s.

Consumption of dog meat has taken place in China and the rest of Asia since before written history, however.

Dog meat purportedly helps alleviate heat exhaustion, which has led to popularity on summer menus.

Beyond cruelty concerns, many opponents of the festival cite serious hygienic concerns of the meat itself. In line with the belief that tortured dogs will provide better meat, conditions with which dogs are transported and slaughtered are often poor and treated with little oversight. Many of the dogs are unvaccinated, and rabies is a high concern.