Intense police presence limits reporting of Beijing’s most fatal fire in decades
The morning after Beijing’s most fatal fire in decades the building bore the signs of the struggle.
Multiple windows were blackened out and smashed, smoke damage clearly visible.
Even though Changfeng is a private hospital and the leadership have swiftly been arrested, the authorities still know this doesn’t look good.
Video of people hanging out of windows and testimony from a survivor that they heard no fire alarm and saw no sprinklers will have left an impression.
And so, there was an intense effort at the scene to prevent journalists from filming too much.
In the morning there were tens of police officers present, some in uniformed and others in plain clothes.
At one point we were stopped and asked for our press cards just for standing and looking up.
We were allowed to film just a few shots of the building before being escorted away.
There were groups of civilians gathered too, rumours were swirling that some family members hadn’t been told where their relatives were. But establishing this by talking to onlookers was essentially impossible, the police, again, intervened.
Public anger is so often suppressed here but it does exist and such a mass loss of life could well spark it. Authorities have moved to pre-empt it by launching a huge city-wide investigation into fire safety provisions.
But they also don’t want a mass media circus or too much attention being drawn to the case. The police on the streets made that very clear.
