American denies being attacked by a mob

via WikipediaAlso the China Herald reported the breaking story at Shanghaiist that an American teacher in Zhuzhou, Hunan province, was supposedly attacked by anti-Carrefour protesters. Shanghaiist now has a follup-up where the teacher, named James Galvin, denies to have been attacked.

Galvin's version of events is less extreme than the version we were originally provided, but it is clear he believes he was in an uncomfortable position that required police intervention. According to Galvin, although he found himself among a crowd of protesters, he was not attacked by a mob, instead he was attacked "very slightly and unsuccessfully by one youth." He said the majority of the crowd was "non-violent."

The initial too sensational story did triggered off a whole set of events, including US diplomats getting involved, that was not justified by the initial event. More details at Shanghaiist. The article justifies why a false story has been published, but also suggests that in a similar case they would do the same. I will be a bit more careful in using stories by Shanghaiist.