The Chinese Embassy in Sweden released a safety travel alert on Sept. 14 after the Swedish government failed to release its official statement regarding the alleged mistreatment of a traveling Chinese family that took place in a local hostel. The embassy warned about growing cases of theft and robbery and mistreatment of Swedish police.
China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs reiterated the concern about the safety and legitimate rights of Chinese citizens who are traveling as tourists to Sweden. The warning came at the wakes of a case where a family was evicted from a hostel where they should be staying for the duration of their visit to Sweden.
Pictures of the incident, which have since been circulating on the internet, showed the son and his elderly parents forcibly being dragged outside of the establishment by the Swedish police.
The embassy and the Ministry said they were appalled and shocked about the incident. They immediately requested for the response of their Swedish counterparts, highlighting that the matter should be dealt with high importance since it involved violation of basic human rights.
No official statement from the Swedish government has been released yet as of press time.
The Chinese government believed the family deserved an apology and appropriate compensation.
On the other hand, a hostel manager explained that the Chinese family arrived in the establishment the day before their official booking and refused to leave. By midnight, the family reportedly demanded for accommodation which the hostel could not provide since the tourists' official booking are originally scheduled the day after. The hostel has given all arrangements it deemed appropriate for the family but it was compelled to call the Swedish police because the family had resorted to verbal threats, The Guardian reported citing local Swedish paper Aftonbladet.
The Global Times reported that the family traveled to Stockholm in the early morning of Sept. 2 but the book they reserved is not yet available until later in the daytime. The son tried explaining that his father suffered heart condition and asked whether he could just pay a fee to allow his parents to stay in the hostel's lobby while they wait for their room.
The hostel staff, however, reacted rudely and told them to leave the premises or they will call the police according to the son. The police eventually came but refused to listen to his explanation and instead dragged his father outside the establishment, throwing his father on the ground.
The family was taken away from the scene when many people started to respond to their calls for help. The family was taken away in a police car where the police asked them if they were refugees, the son said. The police also hit his father for a few times while they were inside the car. The police drove them at a graveyard in the middle of the night. Fortunately, a good Samaritan came a few hours after and kindly took them back to the city.
