People’s Daily China Facebook Photo
A world-famous clown is under Chinese police custody over a crime he ‘committed’.
Chinese enforcement officers, locally known as Chengguan, were irked with a statue of Ronald McDonald’s that was allegedly blocking a portion of the sidewalk in the southern Chinese city of Guangzhou last April 11.
Three Chengguan officers appeared at a McDonald’s branch at Longzhu Street, Huadu District, Guangzhou, in the afternoon and wrestled the jovial statue. According to Chinese news site People’s Daily, they were tasked to ‘handcuff’ the clown’s statue in accordance with a city court order.
Two of the police officers began toppling the statue until it collapsed. The officers then ripped McDonald’s ankles and detached the body from the base. Only the statue’s red shoes were left at the ‘crime scene’.
Chengguan has reminded the fast food chain’s management staff to remove the ‘illegal’ statue out of pedestrians’ sight for a long time. “We’ve asked them to remove the Ronald McDonald statue from the sidewalk several times. But they have refused to cooperate,” said an employee at the government sub-district office to People’s Daily.
Photos of the ‘crime’ circulated in Chinese social media.
The yellow-and-red jolly jester mascot was described as an ‘eyesore’ and a tripping hazard by Chinese pedestrians.
Ronald McDonald can safely return home as long as the management staff will pay the fines accumulated from the street misdemeanor. Gianna Francesca Catolico, INQUIRER.net