The Shanghai government has punished police, local Communist party and district government officials for the stampede that killed 36 people on New Year’s eve, with two of them also penalised for eating a sushi banquet at public expense on the evening of the disaster.
The officials were blamed for “insufficient preparation” for the annual New Year’s Eve gathering on the historic riverside Bund, a popular spot among Chinese tourists, and for “insufficient management and improper response” to the stampede.
The top two district and party officials in Shanghai, one of China’s showcase cities with ambitions to become a global financial centre to rival London, New York and Hong Kong, were punished for their presence at a luxury sushi bar banquet near the Bund that cost Rmb2,700 ($440) of public money. No details were given of what punishment they may face. News of the sushi meal was widely publicised and condemned in Chinese media.