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Fires and Overturned Police Cars in Guangzhou After Mass Incident

Posted: 06/9/2014 12:50 pm

sanyuanli mass protest guangzhou baiyun police riotConflicting reports have surfaced regarding a mass protest in Sanyuanli, Guangzhou on June 8 that backed up traffic for hours.

Dawang Network News reports that several hundred residents gathered at Sanyuanli Boulevard near Tangxi Road in Baiyun District yesterday at 3pm. Law enforcement officers were also at the scene.

According to a Mr Zhou, police were conducting fire prevention inspections at a row of rented warehouses nearby when they began to forcibly remove people and their belongings from the area by prying open doors. People then protested by standing in the middle of the street.

Eyewitness Mr Feng stated that several physical confrontations occurred between the protesters and the police, but he was unsure if there were any injuries, Dawang Network News reports.

In a post on its official Weibo account, Guangzhou police said they ”properly dealt with a congregation of people” when hundreds of residents opposed law enforcement officials. Guangzhou police say the incident began at 4pm when a government department was preparing to renovate the area near Xianggang Street. The officials were met by a throng of people who obstructed them, blocking traffic.

The Guangzhou police statement does not say if any injuries occurred during this incident.

As reported by ABC News, Guangzhou police have been implementing a crackdown on the “five small places” that include small bathhouses, small cyber cafes, small inns, small Karaoke bars and small beauty salons, all places associated with prostitution.

Daily News reports that Dekang Road was closed by police, and that traffic on Sanyuanli Boulevard and Airport Road was blocked.

All sides agree that the crowd dispersed at 8pm, and that traffic resumed normal at that time.

These are photos published on ynet that show hundreds of protestors blocking a street during the day:sanyuanli mass protest guangzhou baiyun police riotsanyuanli mass protest guangzhou baiyun police riotsanyuanli mass protest guangzhou baiyun police riot

These photos published by News Today show police with riot shields at the scene as well as overturned vehicles:

sanyuanli mass protest guangzhou baiyun police riot

sanyuanli mass protest guangzhou baiyun police riotsanyuanli mass protest guangzhou baiyun police riotsanyuanli mass protest guangzhou baiyun police riotsanyuanli mass protest guangzhou baiyun police riotsanyuanli mass protest guangzhou baiyun police riot

These photos posted to Weibo by a netizen show the crowds, and includes images of overturned police cars and fires being set:sanyuanli mass protest guangzhou baiyun police riotsanyuanli mass protest guangzhou baiyun police riotsanyuanli mass protest guangzhou baiyun police riotsanyuanli mass protestsanyuanli mass protest guangzhou baiyun police riot

Photos: msn.ynet, News Today via WeiboWeibo

Haohao

Ethiopian to connect Guangzhou-Africa service all the way to Brazil

Posted: 02/25/2013 1:00 pm

Ethiopian Airlines is tipping Guangzhou to be a key destination in an ambitious plan to connect the emerging BRIC nations of Brazil and China via Africa.

The new Addis Ababa–Lome–Rio de Janeiro–Sao Paulo service is marketed as a seamless gateway to Asia.
Ethiopian hopes to use Addis Ababa to its advantage but joins a long list of airlines competing on the Latin American-Asia route.

Crucially, it will be the sole operator between Addis Ababa and Brazil. However, its conservative approach means a non-direct flight will operate to build demand. Time will tell if the market takes off.

Ethiopian is one the better airlines on the African continent with ambition and vision, but the reality is they are up against bigger, legacy carriers such as Air China and Singapore Airlines.

Guangzhou’s thriving African expat community creates a demand for service between the city and Africa, which Ethiopian is looking to exploit. Conservative estimates put the number of Africans in Guangzhou at 20,000, but it could be as high as 150,000, according to the Globe and Mail:

There are at least 20,000 Africans, mostly from West African nations such as Nigeria, Ghana and Mali, living legally in Guangzhou, a city of about 12 million. The number could be as high as 150,000 if you include the many illegals and those temporarily in the city chasing business opportunities.

The demand is there but the big question is whether it will all work.

Generally, non-SkyTeam alliance carriers have a tougher job of competing with the dominant China Southern.

However, Emirates competes with the Guangzhou-based carrier on the Dubai route. And it has no problem filling planes with feeder traffic transiting at its Dubai hub coming from all over the world. It’s a big airline with a well-established frequent-flyer program – and officially claims the shortest LatAm-Asia service.

That being said, from Guangzhou, Ethiopian has no other feeder traffic or much help from fellow Star Alliance members, but as CAPA reports, it doesn’t have a problem filling planes, which is why it switched to a daily service late last year.

Since Ethiopian has been clipped by the grounding of Boeing’s 787 Dreamliners worldwide, the plan may not even leave the gate if it’s new planes are not back in service by June.

Without these aircraft, Ethiopian’s five 777-200LR would not have sufficient capacity to cover its existing long-haul network to Beijing, Guangzhou, Toronto and Washington Dulles, as well as a direct Hong Kong service.

We say watch this space.

Images: BriYYZ/Flickr and CAPA

Haohao

[Updated] Africans block traffic in Guangzhou after foreigner dies in police custody

Posted: 06/19/2012 7:36 pm

The Chinese interwebs have lit up this evening over a large-scale protest this afternoon in Guangzhou’s sketchy Sanyuanli District.

It’s very much a “he said, she said” situation at the moment, so we’re trying to piece together what happened.  This much we do know: an African man died while in police custody in Guangzhou yesterday, and foreigners took to the streets to protest today.

According to statements on Sina Weibo, a foreign passenger got into an altercation with an electric bike driver over his fare yesterday.  He was apparently badly beaten by a group of Chinese people before he died later.  However, others say that the man was being extremely disorderly.

It’s hard to know exactly what happened, but the truth probably lies somewhere in between.  For its part, the Guangzhou Public Security Bureau published a statement on its website this evening saying a man was apprehended by police yesterday.  That man “passed out” and was unable to be resuscitated despite the efforts of its rescue team.

Whatever happened, many in the African community in Guangzhou are upset about it.  Crowds gathered around Gongyuan West Road this afternoon to protest, disrupting traffic near the Sanyuanli Police Station.  The police called it a protest, but witnesses say the protesters had gone as far as setting fire to a police car.

The Guangzhou Police has called on all foreignerers in China to obey Chinese law, don’t  harm the public interest or disturb the social order of Chinese society.

We’ll update if we find out more.

Thanks to @MissXQ for the tip!

Update (11:03am June 20):

We now have a (wobbly) video of yesterday’s protest to share.  You can click it below.

There is also a full update in a new story posted here.

Haohao

Boeing’s new 787 Dreamliner to serve Guangzhou beginning in August

Posted: 05/22/2012 7:00 am

Last week The Nanfang reported on Ethiopian Airlines sweeping changes making Addis Ababa-Guangzhou a non-stop flight, avoiding Bangkok as part of a wider shake-up of its East Asian offering. From August 16, passengers will now be able to take Ethiopian’s brand-new Boeing 787 Dreamliner all the way to Baiyun Airport seven days a week.

The African carrier has stolen some of the limelight from China Southern Airlines, which was due to receive its first 787 ahead of Ethiopian in July.  So far, though it has made no announcements on its arrival, flight schedule or when fare-paying passengers can make reservations.

Guangzhou’s burgeoning “Little Africa” community concentrated in Yuexiu and Baiyun districts makes Guangzhou a prime destination for African carriers.  Furthermore, the decision for Ethiopian to utilise its new flagship plane on the route means capitalizing on the hundreds of billions of RMB being poured into Africa.

Ethiopian is the first airline to bring the revolutionary Dreamliner to the Pearl River Delta for regular passenger service.

The arrival of the 787 to Guangzhou is a huge coup for airport bosses, but it seen by some as a snub to its bigger, dominant rival the Hong Kong International Airport – which was originally in line to be serviced by the first round of Dreamliners.

But back on October 26 2011, the world’s first Dreamliner flight – an All Nippon Airways special charter – took off from Tokyo and landed in Hong Kong.  Boeing’s latest plane hasn’t been back since.

Source: Airline Route

Haohao

Guangzhou woman opens a carton of yogurt and finds… a condom

Posted: 01/5/2012 6:25 pm

If you’re eating something, you might want to stop for a moment.

The Guangzhou Daily is reporting that a woman in Guangzhou wandered into a supermarket in Sanyuanli and wished to purchase some yogurt.  A supermarket clerk recommended a brand and the woman, surnamed Jin, purchased it and took it to her car in the parking lot.

Rather than leave the lot, she figured she’d have a few slurps of her newly-purchased yogurt.  But after opening a carton and having a bite on Wednesday, she noticed a “fishy, greasy, rubber” taste.  Lo and behold, near the bottom of the carton, was a condom ring.

Shanghaiist takes it from here:

Jin, of course, complained immediately to the supermarket management (how convenient she never chose to leave their parking lot) and demanded an explanation for how such a thing could happen. As usual, the supermarket said they’d look into it, and are contacting the yogurt company to begin an investigation.

You can take this story with a grain of salt (no pun intended).  As Shanghaiist pointed out, the manufacturer of the “fishy” yogurt was never named, nor was the supermarket.  Furthermore, it seems odd that the condom is no nicely placed on the top of the yogurt carton in the photo (Did she spit it out? Place it there?).

Still, might be good to stir any yoghurt around a bit before diving in for a creamy bite.

 

Haohao
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