Beijing’s advice on terror attacks: ‘You must not spread the news’
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Version 0 of 1. In the past few weeks, China has suffered a number of violent incidents in public spaces, including an attack by knife-wielding assailants in Kunming train station that left 33 dead and a suicide bombing just days ago in the capital city of Xinjiang region, Urumqi, where President Xi Jinping was visiting. Such attacks, reportedly committed by Muslim extremists and separatists, are being described as terrorist attacks by the state media. On Wednesday, apparently hoping to calm fears, Beijing Municipal Public Security Bureau (the Chinese capital's police force) took to Weibo to share some advice for citizens in what to do in during attacks on public areas. Some of the advice, presented in a 10-point listicle, seems sensible. "Immediately report it to the police when you foresee or encounter an emerging violent incidents and cooperate with the police," reads the first point. But others prompted some raised eyebrows. "You must not spread the news after you experienced it," one point reads. And no one wants a hero: "Many imported movies promote individual heroism, saving the world from danger [and] the warrior culture shown by Chinese TV series and movies also wins universal praise," the fourth point says, "but these plots were designed by professionals after doing research to attract audiences." Meanwhile, the final point seems to be telling those at the scene of the crime to learn from the experience. Here's the list in full: On Weibo, some users responded with snark (“I will carry sticks in my car and hide knives in my bag, and then I’ll be more confident," wrote one) while others were confused (“I don’t understand no. 9. Does it mean that you can’t publish any pics or tweets but accept everything quietly?”). Meanwhile, one user created his own parodist version of the list. Halli Gu contributed reporting from Beijing. |