Old Singapore video resurfaced with false claim it shows 'assault in China'

This article is more than one year old.
Published on July 20, 2023 at 06:43
3 min read
By Clara IP, AFP Hong Kong, AFP Singapore

A video of a man hitting another person has been shared hundreds of times in Chinese-language social media posts that falsely claim it shows a "black man assaulting a Chinese man" on a subway train in China. Singaporean police told AFP the video was filmed in the city-state in 2021 and the 40-year-old attacker in the video was arrested on charges of public nuisance.

Warning: violent footage

The 14-second clip of a man dressed in black punching and kicking another person on the floor of a train was shared on Twitter on July 9, 2023, where it has been retweeted more than 400 times.

"A black African violently beats a Chinese man on the subway in China," the caption in simplified Chinese reads.

"Didn't they say Chinese people have stood up?" the caption goes on to say, referring to a speech by former Chinese leader Mao Zedong in September 1949 that China had entered the international stage (archived link).

Yellow text overlaid on the video reads: "This time a black African man beats up 'the sick man of Asia', and it is on a subway in China. So the question is, who made the preferential policies to attract them here?"

The phrase "sick man of Asia" was used to refer to China at the end of the 1800s, when the country was weakened by a series of internal wars and faced division by imperial powers (archived link).

A screenshot, taken on July 17, 2023, of the misleading post.

Discussion and public awareness of racism are notoriously low in China, where reports of discrimination and xenophobia against African migrants surged during the pandemic (archived link).

Alleged "preferential treatment" for African students studying in China has also stirred controversy in the country, including a case in 2021 when four Zambian students -- who were convicted of stealing 15 bottles of wine from a supermarket -- were only fined but not sent to prison (archived link).

The same video was shared dozens of times alongside a similar false claim on Twitter, Gettr and Facebook.

The clip in fact shows an assault in Singapore in May 2021.

Assault on Singaporean metro

A reverse image search on Google found screenshots corresponding to scenes from the video were published in a news report by Singaporean newspaper The Straits Times on May 23, 2021 (archived link).

The report is headlined: "Man seen viciously assaulting another on MRT train arrested for public nuisance."

Below is a screenshot comparison of the video in the false post (left) and the screenshot in The Straits Times' report (right):

Screenshot comparison of the video in the false post (left) and the screenshot in The Straits Times' report (right)

The Singapore Police Force told AFP on July 17: "Yes, the video took place in Singapore in 2021."

The police referred AFP to a press release on its official website, published on May 23 (archived link).

The release states police were alerted to an assault case on May 23, 2021 on a subway train.

"Preliminary investigations revealed that the 40-year-old man and a 24-year-old man had a dispute while they were on the train. The dispute escalated, and the 40-year-old man had allegedly assaulted the 24-year-old man as a result."

The attacker was arrested on the same day for public nuisance and police said they would investigate his "wrongful acts".

Singapore digital news outlet TODAY also reported on the incident here (archived link).

Another local online news outlet, Mothership, reported the victim had refused assistance from subway staff and continued on his journey (archived link).

AFP found no credible recent reports of black people attacking locals in China.

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