‘Brutal’ treatment of tourists protested

A case of Chinese tourists being abused by police in Stockholm, Sweden, has gripped the public since the Chinese embassy in Sweden released a statement on the incident on Saturday.

Around midnight on Sept 2, a Chinese man and his 64- and 67-year-old parents, were mistreated by Stockholm police, said the statement on the website of the Chinese embassy in Sweden.

The embassy said it was deeply appalled and angered that three Chinese tourists were “brutally abused by the Swedish police”.

On Sept 2, a Chinese tourist surnamed Zeng and his parents arrived at midnight at the hotel he booked in Stockholm, and he was told the room would not be available for check-in until later in the day, the Global Times reported.

Considering the poor health of his elderly parents, Zeng asked the hotel staff to allow them to stay in the lobby for the time being, but his request was rejected.

The hotel staff called the police, who dragged Zeng’s father out of the hotel even though Zeng showed them proof that his father suffers from cardiovascular disease. Zeng and his parents were taken away in a police car and later dropped off at a cemetery, the report said.

Zeng notified the Chinese embassy of the incident and flew back to China with his parents.

The embassy and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs have strongly protested to the Swedish government, stressing that what the police did “severely endangered the life and violated the basic human rights of the Chinese citizens”.

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

Speaking to local media on Sunday, Chinese Ambassador to Sweden Gui Congyou said the three Chinese tourists were mistreated by Swedish police under circumstances in which they hadn’t broken Swedish law.

The incident took place in a country that honors human rights and justice all the time, which “puzzled and even shocked us a lot”, Gui said, adding the Chinese government and his embassy shoulder the responsibility for protecting the life, safety and dignity of the Chinese people abroad.

The Ministry of Culture and Tourism released a statement on Saturday, saying it is highly concerned over the safety and legitimate rights and interests of Chinese tourists in Sweden, and it urged the country to raise safety awareness and strengthen safety precautions.

The Swedish embassy in China said in a statement on Sunday that Swedish authorities have conducted an independent investigation into the incident to determine whether the police had neglected their duty or violated the law. The statement did not touch on the findings of the investigation.

Some netizens in China also called on Chinese tourists abroad to respect local rules and customs, and be more rational in protecting their legitimate rights in any dispute.

When some Chinese tourists misbehave with locals or are disrespectful to local customs overseas, the Chinese government and people immediately condemn their actions. But Chinese tourists traveling abroad often are at the receiving end. On Sept 2, a Chinese man and his parents landed in Stockholm, Sweden, in the early hours of the morning. After reaching the hotel, the man requested the staff to allow his parents to rest in the lobby because they were not feeling well and couldn’t check into their rooms until a few hours later. And he offered to pay for it.

The man later said the hotel not only declined the request but also called the police, who ignored his explanation and pleas, and dragged his father from the sofa and pushed him to the ground. The three were eventually forced into a police car and dropped near a cemetery kilometers away from downtown Stockholm.

Responding to the incident, the Chinese embassy in Sweden said on Saturday that it is appalled at the way the Swedish police treated the Chinese tourists, and strongly condemned the law enforcement officers’ action.

The Chinese Foreign Ministry has made a solemn representation to the Swedish embassy in Beijing, saying the Swedish police’s action put the lives of the Chinese tourists in danger and violated their human rights, and demanded a thorough investigation into the incident. The Chinese embassy made a similar representation to the Swedish government in Stockholm.

The Swedish police’s savage treatment of the Chinese tourists has instilled a sense of insecurity among the Chinese people traveling abroad, whose numbers are increasing with each passing year.

Despite the different accounts of what actually happened at the hotel, it is a fact that the Swedish police took the three Chinese tourists away from downtown and dropped them near the cemetery. Imagine being dropped in a strange place in an unknown country without knowing the local language.

Instead of considering the requests of the helpless Chinese tourists on humanitarian grounds, the Swedish hotel and police chose to deliver them the harshest possible punishment.

The rude treatment the foreign tourists got in a developed country that claims to be civilized and a torchbearer of human rights is indeed shocking and unacceptable. That Sweden has not ordered a thorough investigation into the incident in response to the Chinese representations could also be construed as arrogance.

— CCTV.COM