Woman Suffers Irreparable Damage After Forcefully Removed by Authorities

Around 5 pm on May 22nd, Wuhan petitioner Ms. Iris was intercepted by more than a dozen policemen and community workers after she did an interview with a foreign media reporter. Related videos were quickly spread online. Iris said on Twitter that after she was interviewed by a BBC reporter she was followed closely by three policemen and seven or eight community workers. They stopped her in a small roadside park. They even stopped the taxi she called in front of the BBC reporter’s car. Wuhan petitioner Iris said: "He [BBC reporter] just asked some views of Wuhan residents. I just expressed my own thoughts directly. I didn’t exaggerate anything, and I didn't know that [police and community workers] would come to intercept me." She asked: “Are you trying to expose your ugliness? " Iris said that the police and community workers wouldn’t let her go and pulled her away. She called a taxi, but they blocked the front of the car, not letting the taxi driver go and even threatening him. Iris revealed to reporters that last October, the Wuhan Metro was under construction near her house, which made cracks in her house, making it unlivable. She went to the subway office to defend her rights. However, her shoulder was torn by community workers, causing irreversible injuries which made her unable to work until now. Despite filing complaints many times, she didn’t receive any response. But after accepting an interview from a foreign media, suddenly a community worker called her, saying that they would resolve some of her claims, but they only reimbursed some medical expenses from the early stage. Iris said that her road to defending her rights is so bumpy. Iris said: "For example, I went to the office for letters and calls. The person I was going to file a complaint with was the person who responded to my case. What kind of effect do you think it would have? No effect at all. They even fabricated the responses to petitions. They are totally unsupervised. I think it’s so scary. They’re putting on shows themselves.” Iris also tweeted that she is really patriotic and hopes that the political system will be more open. Based on this principle, she only gave some mild criticism in a limited scope. But because of it, she had such an unexpected experience. It made her feel scared.