On May 17th, the topic of “Hostage Situation in Qingdao Metro?” surged on the hot search rankings. Official sources claim that in response to sudden events, the Qingdao Public Security Bureau Metro Branch conducted a drill. This is the second drill they have conducted recently.
On May 15th, a video regarding a “hostage situation at Taidong Station of Qingdao Metro Line 2” spread like wildfire in WeChat groups. The video showed a man in black seemingly “hostaging” another man in white, accompanied by scenes of armed police. Some individuals in the WeChat groups spread rumors about casualties in the hostage situation.
The topic of “hostage situation in Qingdao Metro” has garnered attention on Chinese social media platforms over the past two days.
Subsequently, the Qingdao City Online Rumor Refutation Platform clarified through the Shibei District Integrated Media Center that on that day, an emergency joint drill for handling sudden events was taking place at Taidong Metro Station. Since the public was not informed about the drill beforehand, they mistook it for a real incident.
Official explanations have not entirely quelled the doubts of netizens: Why was the public not alerted beforehand? What if civilians were accidentally harmed?
On May 17th, the above topic continued to spark discussions among netizens.
User “游密法落遙盡S” suggested: Maybe they should put up some signs at the scene during the drill, such as “Hostage Situation Drill in Progress, Passengers Please Remain Calm.”
User “nikniutao” questioned why the drill could not wait until after the subway stopped running for the day.
Some netizens sarcastically remarked that the participants in the drill showcased good acting skills.
This marks another recent drill conducted by the Qingdao Public Security Bureau Metro Branch.
According to a report by Qilu Net on May 5th, recently, the Qingdao Public Security Bureau Metro Branch, together with the Special Police Brigade, conducted an emergency joint drill at Taidong Metro Station. This drill, revolving around sudden incidents within the metro station, aimed to test the frontline police’s response capabilities and the collaborative combat abilities of various police units in escalating situations.
The drill was divided into four stages based on the changes in the situation: “Quick Response and Rapid Arrival” mechanism drill, “First Operational Unit” handling sudden incidents, intervention by negotiation experts, and cooperation in handling incidents by the special police force.