In the days of the command economy, Chinese consumers were used to lining up to shop. Memories of those days were revived last Saturday when Beijingers once again joined a queue: this time for the newly launched iPad2.
But unlike their forebears, the younger folk in this line were anything but patient. Scuffles broke out.
According to the Mirror Evening News a man named Ding Wencheng was allegedly thrown against a wall by an Apple staff member, who was also described as ‘foreign’. This enraged the crowd, which surged forward and smashed the shop’s glass door.
As the melee grew, the police arrived and the store was forced to close temporarily. Five customers were injured, says the Daily Mail, while the Beijing Morning Post noted the foreign staffer agreed to pay Rmb20,000 ($3,080) in compensation to the injured Ding.
One of those rare bad PR days for Apple.
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