When police entered the scene, they found several people disheveled. (Photo by reporter Wang Guanren)
The Wanhua Branch of the Bei City Police recently received a report and found that nudity, disheveled clothing and other conditions that hindered decency had been found in the well-known gay bar "Commander D" in Ximending. Yesterday, the police went to the door to search and investigate. They were questioned about discriminatory law enforcement against gays. Colleagues made inappropriate remarks about people with disabilities, which caused a disturbance. Several citizen groups even gathered in front of the red building today to protest. In response to this, the Wanhua Branch also responded strongly today, emphasizing that the police enforced the law with evidence and did not enforce laws in a discriminatory manner against gays.
The Wanhua Branch pointed out that this operation was carried out after receiving reports from the public claiming that the store was suspected of violating moral decency. After the police collected evidence, reported to the prosecutor for command and applied for the court to approve the search ticket, the search was carried out yesterday. During the search, the police did find a large number of naked customers in the store and even seized a large number of used condoms, so they took the store manager and relevant personnel back to the police station for clarification.
When the police arrived yesterday, there were nine staff members and 58 customers in the store. Among them, the person in charge surnamed Zhong was charged with disturbing morals. Among the 58 customers, 51 were punished according to Article 83 of the Social Order Maintenance Act, "Anyone who is naked or in a lewd posture in a public place or a place accessible to the public, thereby disturbing good morals and refusing to listen to dissuasion."
It is reported that after the police entered the scene yesterday, they found a large number of disheveled customers, some of whom were not even wearing underwear. The police also found a large number of used condoms at the scene. Some people were worried about getting into trouble and threw condoms on the ground.
The Wanhua Branch also said that outsiders had questioned whether the police had carried out discriminatory inspections on two other gay bars last night, but the police had already scheduled more than 20 inspection sites last night. These inspections had nothing to do with the afternoon raids, and there was no discriminatory law enforcement.
It is understood that the outside world questioned the police's excessive enforcement of the law after entering the bar yesterday and ordering people to squat and kneel down. However, due to the large number of people in the bar at the time, the police's move was to control the scene immediately to prevent anyone from attacking the police, and to prevent relevant evidence from being annihilated and destroyed. As for some people who questioned that the police violated the principle of non-publicity in investigations by letting reporters in to take photos and hunt for novels, it was actually because the reporter happened to be shopping in the store at the time.
The Wanhua Branch also said that someone at the bar accused the police of saying to a disabled person in a wheelchair, "Can a disabled person have sex?" During the enforcement of the law, the police checked the relevant recorder images and confirmed that the colleague had made inappropriate remarks. They also recorded a warning for the colleague and punished him. At the same time, they continued to educate colleagues that they should respect the diverse social culture and protect the rights and interests of every citizen, and continue to investigate and clamp down on illegal activities to maintain social order.
Police found a large number of used condoms at the scene. (Photo by reporter Wang Guanren)
