Chapter 364: Breaking news[2]
There was a disruption in the daily routine of so many citizens of the empire this day. Many stopped working so that they could watch the news; even the bosses and supervisors who would normally berate their employees for slacking off joined them to watch Phoenix TV news.
At the offices of NTV the National Broadcasting television, executives were furious because this kind of exclusive news they believed should have gone to them first and not to a privately owned media house.
In the CBTV the China Broadcasting Television the news director was furiously blaming the reporters for being so lazy that they missed this gigantic exclusive news and a media house which had not been in existence for a year with amateur anchors and reporters was beating them.
Outside the gates of the Chu plantation and factory, a mixture of more than thirty reporters, photographers and camera men were trying to push their way past the yellow line which indicated that this area was a crime scene and off limits but the reporters were struggling to push their way inside.
One police man could be heard on the radio asking for extra reinforcements to be sent in to assist in crowd control. He went as far as to request for shields and tear gas to be brought just in case the crowd became unruly.
One would have thought that he was exaggerating and panicking unnecessarily but in reality, he wasn’t because everyone that was close and had a missing relative friend child or loved one was showing up with pictures to ascertain whether their people were among the dead bodies which had been found.
As the crowd gained momentum and mass, one of the officers had no choice but to fire his gun in the air to scare the crowd and force them to calm down.
"These are real bullets, if you force your way inside this will be considered an attack on law enforcement officers and we will be forced to use force to defend ourselves. Please calm down the police commissioner is on his way here to address you."
Fear of death stopped the crowd but grumblings could be heard from those who were unhappy. Loud sobs and wails ensued as entry into the plantation was now impossible.