The protester said that he was pushed as he ‘peacefully protested the CCP’s tyranny.’
The protester said that he was pushed as he ‘peacefully protested the CCP’s tyranny.’
A Chinese man who protested in front of China’s consulate general in Manhattan was allegedly knocked unconscious by a private security guard who pushed him last month, National Review has learned.
Yonghong Wang, 54, said that the guard pushed him to the ground during a small demonstration on July 6, knocking him out.
National Review has reviewed photographs and video from before and after the alleged assault, including images of the man apparently lying on the ground, though sources could not provide video showing that the guard, from a New York City–based company called EPIC Security Corp., had pushed him. Last week, an EPIC employee working at the Chinese consulate general claimed that the guard in question had just died of a heart attack. He declined to provide more information, and the company has since declined further comment.
Wang says he left China in 2019 after the authorities there detained and harassed him over his participation in a pro-democracy group and his decision to report corruption in the ranks of a state-owned railway corporation.
On July 9, Wang joined a few other demonstrators in front of China’s consulate general, an imposing building on New York’s west side that overlooks the Hudson River. Wang, in a statement issued after he was discharged from the hospital, said that they’d “peacefully protested the CCP’s tyranny” and the demolition of their houses in the southern city of Tianjin.
A security guard kept bumping into Wang during the protest, he alleged, adding that he ignored the “provocation” and continued to hold a sign and a megaphone.
Wang further claimed that the guard seized a sign held by another protester, throwing it to the ground, and then returned to Wang, continuing to bump into him, before unexpectedly hitting him. Wang said that he fell to the ground and was knocked unconscious when he bumped his head.
Yanhai Wan, a dissident who left China for the United States in 2010, is assisting Wang, who does not understand English. He told NR that Wang was knocked unconscious for 15 minutes, then taken to the hospital. Three of the other four demonstrators, Wan said, are over 70 years old, including an 82-year-old woman.
Videos and images from just after the incident show Wang on the ground with a noticeable injury on his head and individuals wearing EPIC uniforms standing nearby. The video does not include footage of the alleged assault itself. Wan said that this might be because the protester who filmed the videos was accosted by the guards at the same time.
Wan said that Wang chose not to report the incident to the police because an officer at the hospital told his daughter that he could be arrested. The police, Wan said, told the daughter that Wang had actively approached the security guard, which he denies.
Wang said in the statement released after he left the hospital that he is still dizzy, cannot work normally, and suffers from sleep problems. He added that he was “actively preparing to sue the security guard, the security company, and the Chinese Consulate General.”
On its website, EPIC bills itself as “the largest and best equipped provider of uniformed security guards in NYC and the NY/ NJ Metro Area” and says that it offers services for foreign consulates. It also advertises private detective services.
“We do not have any comment at this time,” an EPIC employee said when National Review called the company’s office on Monday.
The Chinese consulate general did not respond to an emailed request for comment.
Anti-Beijing demonstrators have previously complained about harassment by American security firms hired by China’s diplomats.
In a report documenting the violent assaults of demonstrators by pro-Beijing groups during Xi Jinping’s visit to San Francisco last November, two human-rights groups found that “security guards who appeared to be associated with CCP supporters were present at all but one of the locations where protesters were harassed, intimidated, and assaulted.”
An employee of one of two firms at the demonstrations told the report’s authors, “I recommend contacting the Chinese consulate directly for the details you’re looking for.”