Community members protest the treatment of Dr. David Dao, who was forcibly removed from a United Airlines flight on Sunday by the Chicago Aviation Police, at O'Hare International Airport in Chicago, Illinois, U.S., April 11, 2017. Photo: Reuters
The viral video of the incident showed Dao being pulled out of his seat and screaming as officers dragged him down the aircraft. He suffered a blow to the head after it was smacked against the passenger seat, which caused blood to trickle out of his mouth. Other passengers were seen screaming and crying in horror.
Initially, it was speculated that Dao was Chinese when the video was posted on China's microblogging site Weibo. When the ancient-rival country discovered he was from Vietnam, anger increasingly grew.
"So funny," Bui Nguyen Trong Nghia commented on the Facebook video. "Now they know he's Vietnamese, most people stand up to advocate. Whether it's Vietnamese or Chinese, there'll be discrimination as we're Asian."
"Watching this makes my blood boil, I'll never fly United Airlines," Anh Trang Khuya commented, according to Reuters.
"Rubbish! When they were treating this Asian man, they never thought of human rights, otherwise they wouldn't have done it that way," user Su Danqing posted on Weibo, according to USA Today.
Dao's attorney said the doctor was at a Chicago hospital receiving care for the injuries caused by the incident.
