A self-proclaimed "foreigner" has been detained for 15 days by Beijing police after she refused to submit for a body search at Beijing International Airport.
Surveillance video shows the unidentified woman had crossed her arms in front of her chest when a security personnel attempted to frisk her at the airport's security checkpoint last Saturday morning, reportedly having told the security personnel, "Don't touch me."
The woman's refusal to submit to a body search led to a argument with security personnel that held up queuing passengers for ten minutes. Upon remarking that her flight would soon be departing, the woman attempted to leave the checkpoint on her own, prompting security personnel to call for police assistence.
As seen by video taken at the scene, the woman then engaged in a verbal confrontation with police, explaining that "Since I was a child, I have never liked anyone to touch my body, whether male or female" and that she had been insulted by security personnel.
In confronting the police, the woman revealed that she was a foreign national and that she had never been disrespected like this outside of China. When the police officer is heard telling her that visitors to China must conform to Chinese law, the woman is heard telling him: "Well, I just won't come back to China again."
But the woman wasn't satisfied to leave it at that, telling the police officer that he was "sick with mental problems" and "inexperienced". When told by the police that she can't go around insulting people, the woman is heard on video saying, "Why not? This is freedom of speech."
Undeterred, the woman used her status as a non-Chinese national against the police officers. "This is what it's like outside China. What are you going to do about it?" said the woman before she dared the police to arrest her.
Failing to apologize to the police upon request by calling it "degrading", the woman all but incriminated herself on video by saying, "Go ahead and record. I hope all of China sees this video." The theatrics continued as the woman sat down in an airport restaurant, refusing to comply with an oral summons to go to the airport police station.
Having spent so much time arguing, the woman eventually ended up missing her flight and repeatedly requested the intervening police officer compensate her for her ticket. However, the officer ended up having her committed to 15 days of administrative detention for failing to submit to the security check and disturbing public order.
And, as police found out, the unidentified woman did not happen to be a foreign national. Instead, the woman turned out to be a Chinese national living abroad who, after years of living abroad, retained her Mandarin fluency.
Here's a television report of the incident that features airport security surveillance video, police POV video, police interrogation video as well as an interview with a police spokesperson.
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E-Mail: charlesliu1 (at) qq (dot) com
Twitter: @Sinopath
Images: Weibo