"Security Guard's 'Kneel Down' Abuse... Hundreds Gather at Apartment Complex to Protest, Angry Chinese Delivery Workers"

Delivery Worker Damages Railing, Security Guard Abuses Power
Fellow Delivery Workers Gather for Protest Rally

In China, hundreds of fellow delivery workers protested and demanded an apology after an apartment security guard forced a food delivery worker to kneel.

According to Hong Kong's Sing Tao Daily and others on the 13th, a university student working part-time as a food delivery worker accidentally stepped on and damaged a railing while delivering food by crossing over a lawn railing in an apartment complex in Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province, southeastern China, around noon the previous day.

Then, a security guard approached, took the key from the delivery worker's motorcycle, and demanded compensation for the damage. The security guard also told the delivery worker, "You must kneel to get the key back." The delivery worker, worried that other pending orders would be delayed, paid 200 yuan (about 38,000 won) out of pocket and knelt down.

Security guard kneeling delivery worker (left). [Image source=Hong Kong Sing Tao Daily]

The photo of the delivery worker kneeling spread through Chinese social networking services (SNS). Among local delivery workers, the photo circulated widely, and hundreds of colleagues gathered at the apartment management office demanding a public apology from the security guard. In an SNS video capturing the situation, the delivery workers shouted at the security guard, "Apologize." However, the security guard refused to apologize and acted in a high-handed manner. To maintain order, public security officers were dispatched to the scene. The food delivery company Meituan, to which the delivery worker belonged, also sent staff to the management office and paid for the railing repair costs to help resolve the situation.

On Chinese internet, comments criticizing the security guard appeared one after another, saying things like "It is sad to bully people of the same class just because you have a little power."

This is not the first time a security guard has abused a delivery worker. At the end of last month, in an apartment complex in Hubei Province, a security guard caused controversy by tying a noose around a delivery worker's ankle. It was reported that the security guard did this because the delivery worker did not listen to him. Citizens who witnessed the scene at the time reacted with comments such as "Is it necessary to tie him up?" and "No matter what, you can't treat people like this."