Migrant worker's death sparks rumors of a police cover-up in Beijing
Staff Reporter 2013-05-13 08:51
Yuan Liya's death has led many to demand a thorough and transparent investigation. (Internet Photo)
A 22-year-old woman has been found dead at a shopping mall in Beijing, with local police quickly judging the death as a suicide and cremating the body without further investigation. The case has sparked protests online, with internet users and also migrant workers from her hometown suspicious of a cover-up, reports our Chinese-language sister paper Want Daily.
The victim, Yuan Liya, a migrant worker from Anhui in eastern China worked at the shopping mall, she was found dead on Friday morning after plummeting from its fifth floor. Local police quickly ruled her death as a suicide and later cremated her body despite her family's objections, refusing her family to view the mall's video surveillance footage, according to local reports.
Netizens are engaged in heated discussion over the case on Sina Weibo, China's equivalent of Twitter, with one netizen claiming that she was gang-raped by seven security guards at the mall. Others said that Yuan could not have committed suicide as her family were dependent on her financial support as she was sending money to help her father receive cancer treatment.
Thousands of people took to the streets on Wednesday calling for a reinvestigation into Yuan's death, with local police continuing to deny allegations of a cover-up. A netizen has since been arrested for spreading rumors about the female migrant worker.
