Police Release Edited Security Footage Of Jingwen Death That Sparked Beijing Protest

Surveillance footage has surfaced purportedly showing 22-year-old Yuan Liya entering Jingwen Mall in south Beijing on the night of May 2. She would fall to her death several hours later — not seen on tape — in what police have ruled was a suicide.

Authorities reportedly blocked Yuan’s family from seeing this footage last week, which was one of the reasons cited for an unusually large protest in front of Jingwen on May 8 that caused gridlock and an increased police and paramilitary presence through the city center.

The edited footage has been broadcast on several news shows, which you can watch above. Yuan reportedly entered Jingwen and went up to the 7th floor at 10:34 pm on the night of the 2nd. A figure in the video, wearing a white skirt, walks from room to room, turning on lights and turning them off.

According to SCMP, netizens are less than convinced:

In the video footage, she is seen wearing a white skirt, but photos taken of her body when she was found the next morning show her wearing a dark-coloured or black skirt. The news report did not explain the contradiction.

Many sceptical comments and juxtapositions of the two photos were promptly deleted on Chinese microblogs. Searches for the name of the mall, Jingwen, are still blocked on Sina Weibo, the country’s largest microblogging platform.

The only arrest made in this case remains that of a 28-year-old woman surnamed Ma, charged with spreading a false rumor on Sina Weibo that Yuan was raped in Jingwen.

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