Rumours of a coup against Chinese president Xi Jinping have been doing the rounds after there were reports of his house arrest. Gordon G Chang, the author of  The Coming Collapse of China, tweeted “This video of military vehicles moving to #Beijing comes immediately after the grounding of 59% of the flights in the country and the jailings of senior officials. There’s a lot of smoke, which means there is a fire somewhere inside the #CCP. #China is unstable.”

However, Georg Fahrion China correspondent for German publication Der Spiegel shared a series of images which show that things are normal in China and there is no coup or military presence as internet chatter suggested. 

Also Read | World Bank to donate $2 billion to flood-wrecked Pakistan

“Today in Beijing, I investigated the #chinacoup so you don’t have to. At considerable personal risk, I ventured out to some neuralgic key points in the city. Disturbing finds. Brace yourselves”, he said. 

Then, Fahrion shared an image of the Xinhua Gate, which is the main entrance of the Zhongnanhai compound, where the entire central leadership including Xi resides and works. 

He sarcastically added, “Elite paratroopers have wrested control over the gate, cunningly disguised as the five middle-aged dudes who always stand there.”

He then shared an image of Tian’anmen Square, where tourists can be seen, and joked about them being “thugs in plainclothes”.

Another photo of normal people on the street is captioned, “Rebels in army fatigues guard the headquarters of the State Grid, controlling electricity supply in the capital.”

An image of one of Beijing’s thoroughfares – the Second Ring Road, shows heavy traffic, and the reporter sarcastically notes that the road near the Foreign Ministry has been closed off to civilian traffic, and “A column of military vehicles stretches about 80 kilometres from here to some place in Hebei”.

He also shared an image of Central Station, which shows regular passenger activity, but quipped “holdouts from army units loyal to Xi have dug themselves in, guarding that crucial railway hub from their positions fortified with sandbags”.

The final piece of proof is an aged couple in a cycle that the reporter has labelled “coup reinforcements” arriving in “armoured personnel carriers”.

There has been no official confirmation from the Chinese Communist Party or state media. There were reports of flights over China being cancelled, but there has not been any verification of the same.

Indian columnist Aadil Brar, who reports on China, refuted the news of the plane cancellation while adding that the Chinese leader might be in quarantine after his return from Uzbekistan.