Chinese protesters cut off and swallow fingertips

Four protesters in Beijing cut off their fingertips and swallowed them in a desperate bid to bring attention to their cause. The men, from the central province of Hunan, travelled to the capital to seek resolution of a dispute with their former employer, who they claim sacked them on trumped-up charges.

They gathered at Tsinghua University, one of the nation's most highly regarded, on Sunday and rested their hands on books on the pavement. Then, in front of hundreds of bystanders, each in turn held a cleaver and brought it down, cutting the tops off their little fingers and swallowing the severed tips.



"I felt so calm doing that, as we have been driven from pillar to post," Li Bo, one of the men, was quoted as saying. The four have since been seized by police and forced out of Beijing.

The case highlights the desperate measures some people in China will take to bring attention to grievances that have been ignored by local governments or courts. Over the past year, some protesters have even set themselves on fire and died to prevent their houses or businesses from being demolished, in cases that have shocked the nation.