Qingdao unsafe, allege tourists

Over 50 Beijing tourists protested Sunday outside the city government office in Qingdao, Shandong Province, against a lack of police action after some of them were allegedly beaten by employees at a local nightclub.

Qingdao police Monday denied the accusations, saying they had arrested the suspects involved at the time and had dealt with the case appropriately.

"It would never have gone this far if the Qingdao police took immediate action, instead of covering up the people who beat up our people," alleged a female employee, surnamed Chen, from a Beijing logistics company. Chen did not want to identify her employer.

"The local underworld gang is involved here, so we don't feel like putting many details of our company out there," claimed Chen.

She said over 50 employees from Beijing were in Qingdao for an annual company trip. At least four male staff members were injured after becoming involved in a brawl with some employees of Yeyan Mingdu nightclub around 10 pm Saturday night.

There was a dispute between the driver of a Buick car, owned by the club, and the logistics company staff, who were on their way back to Qiao Hui Business Hotel. The hotel is next to the club, said Chen.

"The car hit one colleague in the back. We tried to speak to the driver, but then it became physical as many employees from the club came out with heavy plastic clubs," said Chen.

Chen said one staff member suffered a serious head injury, while the other three sustained bruises to multiple parts of their bodies.