Turkish-American streamer and political commentator Hasan Piker was confronted by security while livestreaming at Beijing’s Tiananmen Square early Tuesday morning, November 11. Police in China stopped him from filming while he, along with other influencers, made their way to the daily sunset flag-raising ceremony in front of Tiananmen Gate and the portrait of Mao Zedong, the founder of Chinese Communist Party, according to Newsweek. He was joined by Twitch streamer Will Neff
What does the video show?
Both Neff and Piker were on camera when Neff held up his phone and showed an AI-generated image of Mao in the likeness of Piker, accompanied by the Maoist slogan “Closely follow the great leader Chairman Mao forward in the revolution!”
The two were interrupted by Chinese police, who asked them to stop filming. However, the audio continued.
“He wants to see the photo,” a translator said after a brief exchange.
Neff replied that he had not taken any photos, to which the translation shot back, “He said he saw you.”
“Oh, I was just holding the camera, but I didn’t do anything yet,” Neff replied.
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The officer asked to review the most recent footage from the livestream. The broadcast then cut to black, with an intermission screen displaying the message, “We’re doing secret memes. Be right back”.
When the broadcast resumed, Piker and the group were seen laughing about the encounter. “This is awesome. I don’t know why people aren’t enjoying all of this,” Piker said.
There are significant filming restrictions at Tiananmen Square, which was the site of the horrific massacre of pro-democracy protesters in June of 1989. Filming in this area is heavily restricted or completely banned due to strict government censorship, especially when the filming could be seen as critical or an attempt to commemorate the 1989 protests.
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Back in 2008, China imposed restrictions on the access of Chinese and foreign media to the sensitive square. Applications were required to be made in advance to film or conduct interviews there, the city government said at the time.
“To maintain a good order of reporting activities at the square, Chinese and foreign journalists are advised to make telephone appointments with the Administration Committee of Tiananmen Area,” said a notice posted on the official website of the Beijing government.
Hasan Piker responds
Piker later responded to the noise around his confrontation in China. He said in a video, “What is so insane to me is that, like, I’m a person who has had altercations with American police. I’m a person who’s had altercations with police in European capitals.”
“You know, I’ve interactedwith cops all around the world. I’ve gone to protests. I’ve been tear-gassed,” he added. “I’ve been pepper-sprayed. I’ve been, you know, I’ve been stun-grenaded.”
He explained that astun grenade exploded near his head when he was in Los Angeles in his own backyard.
Piker further said, “And it’s so crazy that that brief interaction of, you know, a bunch of, like, not even a bunch of, like, one young Chinese cop slash soldier, I don’t know if he was a cop or if he was a soldier or not, like, showing up to be like, what the fu**’s on your phone? And, like, having, like, a one-minute altercation has been blown up into this much more significant thing. Like, I’ve been detained by my own country, man. Like, I’ve been detained by my own country. My own country’s Customs and Border Protection and Customs and Border Patrol. And we’re talking about, like, a cop coming up and being a little aggro.”
Tiananmen Square,1989 protests,government censorship,filming restrictions,Hasan Piker,Piker
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