Over the weekend reports from China showed China’s former President Hu Jintao being escorted out from the Chinese Communist Party’s Closing Ceremony.
This was a shocking event never seen before during the CCP’s major ceremonies. The former head of China was escorted from the event in front of the leaders of the entire party. Everyone there looked scared to show any emotion for fear that they would be removed.
BREAKING: Chinese Leader Xi Has His Predecessor Hu Jintao Removed from CCP Summit on Live TV – VIDEO
It was unknown whether Hu exited because of poor health or because he was being ousted from the party.
Al Jazeera reports that the former leader left because of health reasons:
Former Chinese President Hu Jintao was unexpectedly escorted out of Saturday’s closing ceremony of the Communist Party Congress in a dramatic moment that disrupted the highly choreographed event.
The frail-looking 79-year-old seemed reluctant to leave the front row of proceedings at Beijing’s Great Hall of the People, where he was sitting next to President Xi Jinping.
A steward attempted to take a sitting Hu by the arm before being shaken off. The steward then attempted to lift Hu with both hands from under the armpits.
After an exchange of about a minute, in which Hu spoke briefly with Xi and Premier Li Keqiang, he was led out of the hall.
A seated Xi was filmed holding papers down on the desk as Hu tried to grab them. Hu patted Li’s shoulder as he left with most of his colleagues staring firmly ahead.
Hu was “not feeling well” when he was unexpectedly removed from the closing ceremony, state media reported.
“Xinhuanet reporter Liu Jiawen has learned that Hu Jintao insisted on attending the closing session … despite the fact that he has been taking time to recuperate recently,” state-run news agency Xinhua said on Twitter.
“When he was not feeling well during the session his staff, for his health, accompanied him to a room next to the meeting venue for a rest. Now he is much better.”
Reports from inside China indicate that the incident with Hu was censored on China’s social media.
Search results for “Hu Jintao” on the Twitter-like Weibo platform appeared to be heavily censored with the most recent result dated Friday and posts limited to those of official accounts.
In addition, reports from inside China indicate that Hu has not been seen in public since his exit last weekend.
