More Controversy about SCMP Story regarding Blacks Banned from Bars in Beijing

Ok, so a couple days after the story on SCMP "broke" the story about how the police in Beijing are asking bar owners in the Sanlitun bar district to ban blacks, there have been several follow up reports, some from the SCMP and some other investigative reporters.

SCMP still sticks to their story, with a follow up written by Tom Miller in Beijing, who writes

Police in Beijing's popular Sanlitun bar district deny they are conducting a racist campaign ahead of the Olympics, as another bar owner revealed he had been ordered not to let in blacks.

"They made us sign and chop a document saying we would not allow black people in [during the Olympics]," the owner said. "But no one is willing to say so because we'll all get deported ... and have our business shut."

Asked yesterday whether they had told landlords not to let blacks in bars, an officer at the Sanlitun police station had a one-word answer: "No."

The story goes on mention one bar owner who said blacks can still come into his establishment, but they have been asked to watch for people acting suspiciously.

Meanwhile Beijing Boyce made some calls and visited some bars in the district and found

- An owner said police met with Sanlitun bar reps and told them to monitor black patrons. He said the police told the reps that drug dealers are predominantly black in the area. He said the police did not ask bar owners to ban blacks.

- Several Sanlitun area bar owners said they had not been told by police to ban blacks or Mongolians.

- I also spoke to several people in the restaurant business and they told me they have not heard of police telling city eateries to ban people.

- Most interesting, two people working at one bar had different perspectives on the terminology used by the police. One said the police used “black” in reference to skin color; while the other said it was used in terms of bad elements (the Chinese character for “black” is part of a phrase used to describe criminals)

Beijing Boyce will be providing follow ups as they become available.

So, the question remains, is this just bad reporting on the part of the SCMP, a lot of misunderstanding of terminology, or another heavy handed tactic being used by Beijing police to "provide for the public safety" during the "No Fun" Olympics?