Dr. Leospace
Alpiniste Kundalini
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- 28 Oct 2005
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Chinese Torturing Foreign Teens in Drugs Raid
Parents of foreign teenagers living in Beijing are accusing police of putting their heads in plastic bags and roughing them up if they complained during a drugs raid on a bar district.
Police swept two bars in Sanlitun, the most well-established bar and restaurant area for younger foreign and Chinese residents of the capital on Friday night.
They led out scores of revellers, including pupils from several of the city's numerous and expensive international private schools, as well as Chinese.
They were then escorted, heads covered in bags, to local police stations for urine tests.
"They had their heads covered in plastic bags and had to keep their heads bent low throughout their detention otherwise they were beaten," said one parent. Another said a teenager thought he had a gun pointed at his head, though he could not see it through the bag.
Some of those detained were forced to undress so their clothes could be searched.
The raid was confirmed by police, who said that ecstasy, marijuana and other drugs were seized, and that more than 20 people had been detained, including eight foreigners.
One of the bars is popular with young French people, who were among those detained, and the French embassy issued a statement saying it would make "appropriate representations" if it turned out any nationals had been assaulted.
The discovery of drugs would make the police action more successful than a controversial raid last September, also in Sanlitun, when police swept the bars and rounded up any customers who were black.
They were then made to lie or kneel in the street while they were searched, while bystanders who took photographs of some being beaten had their cameras removed.
The event turned into an embarrassment for the city after no drugs were found. The Grenadian ambassador issued an angry complaint alleging his son had been beaten and had ended up in hospital suffering concussion.
One source said that on Friday, black people were separated from other races.
The raid is part of a general law and order crackdown in the city in advance of the Olympics, which has also involved unannounced visits by police to homes of both locals and foreigners to check residence papers.
Beggars and "petitioners" - people who come to Beijing to lodge complaints against local authorities - are also being rounded up and sent back to their home provinces.
By Richard Spencer in Beijing
Telegraph UK
Parents of foreign teenagers living in Beijing are accusing police of putting their heads in plastic bags and roughing them up if they complained during a drugs raid on a bar district.
Police swept two bars in Sanlitun, the most well-established bar and restaurant area for younger foreign and Chinese residents of the capital on Friday night.
They led out scores of revellers, including pupils from several of the city's numerous and expensive international private schools, as well as Chinese.
They were then escorted, heads covered in bags, to local police stations for urine tests.
"They had their heads covered in plastic bags and had to keep their heads bent low throughout their detention otherwise they were beaten," said one parent. Another said a teenager thought he had a gun pointed at his head, though he could not see it through the bag.
Some of those detained were forced to undress so their clothes could be searched.
The raid was confirmed by police, who said that ecstasy, marijuana and other drugs were seized, and that more than 20 people had been detained, including eight foreigners.
One of the bars is popular with young French people, who were among those detained, and the French embassy issued a statement saying it would make "appropriate representations" if it turned out any nationals had been assaulted.
The discovery of drugs would make the police action more successful than a controversial raid last September, also in Sanlitun, when police swept the bars and rounded up any customers who were black.
They were then made to lie or kneel in the street while they were searched, while bystanders who took photographs of some being beaten had their cameras removed.
The event turned into an embarrassment for the city after no drugs were found. The Grenadian ambassador issued an angry complaint alleging his son had been beaten and had ended up in hospital suffering concussion.
One source said that on Friday, black people were separated from other races.
The raid is part of a general law and order crackdown in the city in advance of the Olympics, which has also involved unannounced visits by police to homes of both locals and foreigners to check residence papers.
Beggars and "petitioners" - people who come to Beijing to lodge complaints against local authorities - are also being rounded up and sent back to their home provinces.
By Richard Spencer in Beijing
Telegraph UK
