Armed Thugs Violently Assaulting Beijing Expats With Chinese Girlfriends
Posted: 01/10/2015 5:38 pmForeign guys in Beijing with Chinese girlfriends, beware: there appear to be a series of attacks targeting men seen with Chinese women in the capital.
The blog Beijing Cream interviewed the victim of the latest attack, an Australian student named “Michael”. He said a trio of armed Chinese men driving in a grey BMW attacked him on December 21 as he made his way back to his BCLU dormitory at around 2am.
Michael was with his Korean girlfriend Christine, but the attackers apparently thought she was Chinese. The trio of men beat Michael with bats and rods. After managing to disarm one of them, he and his girlfriend’s attempt to escape to the school dormitory failed when she accidentally fell down.
Michael said he did not remember what happened next, but CCTV footage shows Michael getting struck in the head. Other students then rushed to help. Police arrested the trio of men along with a Russian student when they arrived.
This violent attack shares many similarities with other attacks in Beijing areas where foreigners are known to congregate. The World of Chinese outlines an attack last month in which the beating victim was asked if his girlfriend was Chinese. Later the same night, an eyewitness said he saw “four Chinese holding bats chasing a black guy, shouting at him” in an area nearby the previous incident.
Users on Reddit have detailed similar instances of getting beaten up or threatened under similar circumstances.
Despite the racially-charged nature of the attack, Michael wants to put the incident behind him. Michael has come forward to ask for more eyewitnesses or victims of these beatings to come forward:
“All three are now in jail,” said Michael. “However, if we can get more witnesses, they’ll serve a longer time in jail.” In legal terms, the men have been detained pending investigation. They can be held for up to 28 days without charge and should police decide to press charges, a case will be sent to the “procurator” for consideration.
Photos: Beijing Cream