Family claim to be ‘brutally’ thrown out of a hostel after demanding check-in one day earlier

A family who claimed to be brutally removed from a hostel and left abandoned near a graveyard by police has become the centre of an ongoing debate on the internet.

It is said that the family of three, travelling from China to Sweden, arrived at their hostel in Stockholm around midnight while their booking was for the next night.

The family reportedly refused to leave the hostel, which was fully booked, leading the staff to call the police who ejected them from the lobby.

The event has caused political tensions between China and Sweden after Beijing accused Stockholm of violating human rights over the ‘brutal abuse’ of the family.

Zeng and his mother from China were seen crying on the street after being ejected from a hostel in Stockholm. The family have sparked a debate after claiming to be brutally treated

One of the family members, known by his surname Zeng, claimed to Chinese state-run newspaper Global Times last Saturday that he was travelling in Stockholm with his elderly parents.

He said they arrived at the hostel in the wee hours of September 2 to check into the room for the night of September 2, and the hostel refused to let them remain after he offered to pay to stay in the lobby.

Zeng claimed the police swore at them and beat them.

He added that his father who had a heart disease started twitching and police carried on booting them out. He said they were eventually left near a graveyard across the Stockholm city in temperatures lower than 10 degrees celsius. 

The man did not explain why the family had arrived at the hostel so early, or why they didn’t resort to alternative accommodation for the night.  

Zeng claimed the police swore at them and beat them while ejecting him and his elderly father and mother out of the hostel. A Swedish prosecutor said police had done nothing wrong 

When the incident was first reported last week, the Chinese web user gave the Zeng family an outpouring of support, showing sympathy to their experience. 

But after footage apparently showing the event emerged online, the public’s opinion took a 180-degree turn, with more people accusing the family of being ‘unreasonable’ and acting like ‘giant babies’. 

The footage showed the son, Zeng, repeatedly yelling ‘this is killing’ when police carried his father out of the building by his arms and legs. He was also seen crying loudly together with his mother, who later shouted loudly ‘save me’.

The footage did not show Swedish police beating or swearing at the family. 

This week, the incident has escalated into a diplomatic spat.

Scandinavian countries are popular among Chinese tourists for their ‘fair-tale like’ landscape

China on Monday urged Sweden to respond to its complaints about the alleged mistreatment of the family.

The foreign ministry and China’s embassy in Stockholm had asked Sweden to investigate the case but have yet to hear back, ministry spokesman Geng Shuang told reporters.

‘We once again urge Sweden to take seriously our concerns and take concrete measures to ensure the safety and legal rights and interests of Chinese tourists,’ Geng said, adding that the family had been ‘brutally abused by Swedish police.’ 

A statement on the Chinese Embassy’s website posted last Saturday said its citizens were asking for ‘punishment, apology and compensation in time.’

‘The Chinese Embassy in Sweden is deeply appalled and angered by what happened and strongly condemns the behavior of the Swedish police,’ the statement said.

The Swedish Embassy in Beijing posted on its microblog Sunday that it had been made aware of the accusations against the police and an independent investigation into the incident would be conducted to determine whether there had been ‘negligence or illegal behavior.’

In Stockholm, however, Chief Prosecutor Mats Ericsson said an investigation was closed on Sept. 7 after concluding that police had done nothing wrong.

‘This is very normal (when you have) disorderly behavior,’ he was quoted as saying by the Aftonbladet newspaper, one of Sweden’s largest.

‘Police have the right to remove a person from one place to another,’ he said.

Citing a police report, the tabloid said two people were lying on a sofa in the hotel lobby and refused to leave the premises at about 1:45 a.m. About 25 minutes later, a police patrol decided to remove them and the two people started screaming, reportedly about ‘human rights.’

The news broke just days after Dalai Lama held a lecture in Malmo, Sweden (pictured)

Beijing and Stockholm have also experienced tensions over China’s detention of a Chinese-born Swedish national, Gui Minhai, on suspicion of leaking state secrets

The incident comes amid after Dalai Lama arrived in Sweden’s third-largest city of Malmö last Tuesday. 

The exiled Tibetan Buddhist spiritual leader, 83, is labelled by China as a dangerous separatist. China routinely demands foreign nations bar him entry to deny him a platform to speak. 

Last Friday, the Chinese embassy in Sweden issued a travel warning to the Chinese citizens, informing them to be cautious while travelling in Sweden.

‘The personal belongings and passports of Chinese tourists have been stolen frequently as of late,’ the travel warning said. 

The news also came amid tensions between Stockholm and Beijing over China’s detention of a Chinese-born Swedish national on suspicion of leaking state secrets.

China has rebuked Sweden for demanding the release of Hong Kong-based bookseller Gui Minhai, 53, who was taken off a train by police in eastern China on Jan. 20 while in the company of two Swedish diplomats with whom he was traveling to Beijing.

Read more at DailyMail.co.uk