A bomb, and a self-immolation in Beijing
An improvised bomb exploded near the U.S. embassy in Beijing several hours after a woman tried to self-immolate in the same area. It appears from eyewitness accounts in the media that both incidents were acts of protest, but were not connected.
- The police detained a 26-year-old manย surnamed Jiang from Inner Mongolia, according to a message postedย (in Chinese) by Pingโan Beijing ๅนณๅฎๅไบฌ, the official Sina Weibo account of Beijingโs Public Security Bureau. The note says he had exploded a โfirecracker device,โ injuring his hand. No one else was hurt.
- โPolice took away a womanย spraying gasoline on herself in suspected attempt at self-immolation outside US embassy in Beijing around 11 am Thursday,โ according to a tweetย from the Global Times. In another tweet, the nationalist rag saidย โit is not proved yet the incident is related to an alleged explosion around the US embassy in Beijing laterโ โ there was a two-hour time difference between the events.
- Plainclothes agents dragged away a womanย who had tried to share photos and videos of the explosion with journalists โ Becky Davis of Agence France-Presse tweeted video and photos of the incident.
- Censors quickly deletedย photos of smoke wafting around the U.S. Embassy and eye-witness reports that had spread on social media after the blast. China Media Project captured some of the deleted postings.
- For more on the explosion and attempted self-immolation, see The China Projectย or Reuters.
Smoke and confusion after explosion outside U.S. Embassy in Beijing
