This article was originally published by Radio Free Asia and is reprinted with permission.
An unidentified man dressed in black suddenly jumped a barricade during a flag-raising ceremony at Tiananmen Square in Beijing and was wrestled away by security, a video posted on social media showed.
Video of the incident, which reportedly took place on Monday, two days ahead of the anniversary of June 4, 1989, crackdown on pro-democracy protesters in Tiananmen Square, was posted on the X by “Mr. Li is not your teacher,” who posts content on that platform to circumvent Chinese government censorship.
The man, wearing glasses, and a black jacket and trousers, ran toward the flag pole during the final bars of the People’s Republic of China national anthem. He was tackled by guards and plainclothes personnel, as bystanders at the ceremony filmed on their cell phones. Some onlookers could be heard in the video exclaiming, “Someone rushed in!”
A few seconds later, the man was carried out by half-a-dozen security personnel and taken to a police van without struggling.
The man’s identity, nationality and motives remain unclear. On Tuesday, security inside and outside Tiananmen Square was reportedly stepped up.
