A disturbing video began circulating on WeChat last week appearing to show a group of people attempting to kill themselves on the Beijing Metro by drinking some milky white toxic liquid.
The video shows the men and women sipping on the noxious substance and then collapsing to the carriage floor as fellow commuters back away in fright.
Details about the incident are scarce. An Epoch Times report claims that it occurred on December 26th. Police soon boarded the train and dragged the unconscious people out onto the station platform before rushing them to the hospital. Reportedly, none of the eight people were killed by drinking the poison.
Furthermore, the Epoch Times alleges that the people involved were all stock traders who had fallen victim to financial fraud that had left them in debt and desperate.
However, mainland Chinese media have not reported on the incident and the video and pictures have been expunged from Chinese social media, so it is difficult to know for sure who these people are and what they were hoping to accomplish.
You can watch the video below:
Drinking toxic liquids is a common form of protest in China, aimed at drawing attention to a problem that is not being addressed. In 2014, a migrant worker drank pesticide to protest unpaid wages owed to him by the local government of Qiaojia County in Yunnan province. However, it only resulted in giving one official a chuckle.
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