News — BBC

A Chinese man who a video showed was being pulled on a trolley by a Zambian in the East African country may be deported if investigations find him “wanting”, authorities say.

A permanent secretary in Zambia’s Ministry of Labor, Chanda Kaziya, told the BBC that government will investigate what was captured on video as well as the issues surrounding the Zambian man pulling his Chinese boss. The video went viral via social media platforms and was condemned by many as “racist”.

The video shows a Chinese man closing what seems to be a storehouse. He then stepped onto the trolley that was pulled by the Zambian now identified as John Zulu. But no farther than a few yards of being pulled by the Zambian, the Chinese man was accosted by two other Zambian men who asked why he was being chauffered.

“You cannot walk? You don’t do this!,” the men can be heard asking the Chinese man several times. They then asked their compatriot to stop giving the ride and walked briskly with Zulu and his boss away from where they had met them.

Meanwhile, the mayor of Lusaka, Zambia’s capital city, Miles Sampa, announced via a Facebook post that Zulu had been contracted to a new job by the landlord of the Chinese expatriate.

Sampa’s post read: “The good news on carousel saga is that the landlord of the Mall Lamasat Ltd have [sic] offered John Zulu a job with their main premises management [sic] office. He further indicated to possibly terminate the tenancy agreement with the tenant that exhibited racial abuse towards his black employee by getting pulled on a trolley for over six hour [sic].”

China’s interests in Africa over the last decade have translated into many more Chinese people in African countries now more than ever before. Many of them are business owners who do everything from manufacturing to retailing. However, citizens of dozens of African countries have reported abuse from Chinese bosses as well as culture clashes.

The police in Wales are investigating the death of a 24-year-old Black man who died hours after he was released from custody following his arrest at his Cardiff residence on Friday, December 8.

According to BBC, Mohamud Mohammed Hassan was arrested by South Wales Police officers on suspicion of breach of the peace on the aforementioned date and spent the night behind bars. After Hassan was released without charge on the morning of Saturday, December 9, he passed away a few hours later.

Hassan’s family allege he was assaulted while he was in custody, with his aunt claiming he returned home with “lots of wounds on his body and lots of bruises” after he was released. “He didn’t have these wounds when he was arrested and when he came out of Cardiff Bay police station, he had them,” she said, adding that they want justice for him.

“Nothing we do is going to bring him back but we will not rest for a second until we have justice.”

Following his death, the South Wales Police said preliminary investigations did not find any evidence of excessive use of force or misconduct. They, however, said they have referred the case to the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) to investigate, and have handed over all the necessary CCTV footage and body-worn recording for them to be able to review what happened during the hours leading to his death, BBC reported.

The IOPC claim early autopsy results indicate Hassan’s cause of death wasn’t as a result of physical injuries. They also said toxicology tests are being undertaken and they’re waiting for the full results of the autopsy. Meanwhile, Hassan’s family also confirmed they’ll request for an independent pathologist report and also requested for an independent police force to look into the incident.

“I would like to offer my sympathies to Mr Hassan’s family and friends and to those members of the community affected by his death and the events at the weekend,” South Wales Police and Crime Commissioner, Alun Michael, said. “We now know that there is no physical trauma injury to explain a cause of death and it is important that we await the outcome of the independent investigation before drawing conclusions about what happened.”

The footage of the incident can only be released after the IOPC complete investigations.

Hundreds of protesters gathered outside a police station for the second day in a row on Tuesday demanding answers and for the footage to be released. One of the protesters, Bianca Ali, also told BBC they want “transparency” in the investigations.

“We can’t just sit at home and twiddle our thumbs and wait for an answer from the IOPC,” Ali said. “We need answers now, we want answers now, we want transparency. If we see the footage and the police did not do absolutely anything, then as a community we can have a little bit of closure and move on with the situation.

“But until we have have full transparency, and the full facts of the whole case, we’re not going to go anywhere.”