In their relentless campaign to restore order to the nation’s sidewalks, China’s out-of-control chengguan have claimed yet another victim — Ronald McDonald.
Recently, a group of gung-ho chengguan, China’s beloved public security officers, were spotted taking away a Ronald McDonald statue from outside of his very own restaurant. Fortunately, for all of us, photos of the controversial “arrest” were snapped and subsequently spread all over Chinese social media. Enjoy:
An enterprising reporter for Yangcheng Evening News paid a visit yesterday to the McDonald’s location in Huadu district of Guangzhou city where the incident had taken place, when he arrived there were still traces of Ronald to be found.
A worker at the McDonald’s confirmed the truth of the “April 10th Incident,” saying that on that afternoon, chengguan had visited and taken poor Ronnie away. Unfortunately, the McDonald’s mascot was actually fixed to the ground outside, so during the operation, officers were forced to separate him from his beloved red boots.
Netizens from across China have expressed their concern for Ronald McDonald, wondering how he is holding up in police custody without his feet and what crime he had committed. Visa problems? Caught at a under-bridge drug rave? Participate in an illegal book selling business on the mainland? Or perhaps, was it something more nefarious?
“Is the chengguan taking orders from Colonel Sanders now?” netizens wondered.
The journalist decided to get to the bottom of it, talking to the chengguan involved in Ronald’s capture. They told him that on the day in question, the street that the McDonald’s location is on was undergoing inspection and renovations.
Officers reported having constant problems with this particular restaurant. McDonald’s workers would always leave promotions and advertisements out on the sidewalk, annoying and obstructing pedestrians. However, workers would immediately pull the ads inside when the chengguan came on patrol. Once the officers left, they would bring everything right back outside again. The chengguan had tried talking to the manager about this before, but to no avail.
On the day of the incident, it appears that the chengguan had finally had enough of this little cat and mouse game, finding the sidewalk outside the McDonald’s crammed with advertisements, they decided to seize all the promotions.
The manager came outside furious and questioned the officers’ methods. “That Ronald McDonald beside our door is also in the way, why not take it away too?” he said. Much to the manager’s surprise, the chengguan agreed with his logic and decided to take poor Ronald with them as well.
The officers stress that Ronald and the advertisements have not been confiscated, but merely “temporarily seized,” and they plan to give Ronald back once the restaurant admits its offenses. However, at the time of this report, he is still missing.
#FreeRonald
Hostile foreign force brought to heel in Guangzhou. https://t.co/CcuNybkH1O pic.twitter.com/RtFdcHfYNp
— Chris Buckley 储百亮 (@ChuBailiang) April 11, 2016
[Images via NetEase]
