Uproar in China: Two people were arrested for digging a hole in the Great Wall of China with an excavator – Newsbomb – News

Two people have been arrested for using a backhoe to dig a hole in the Great Wall of China, state broadcaster CCTV reported today.

Police in Shaanxi Province (northeastern China) traced the traces of the machine used by the suspects to make a hole in the wall, which UNESCO has included in the World Heritage List since 1987. World Heritage of Humanity.

During interrogation, the suspects, a 38-year-old man and a 55-year-old woman, according to CCTV, admitted that they opened the hole because They wanted to shorten their ways. Local police said in a statement that they aim to create a shorter route for their construction works near the memorial.

State television reported that the suspects had been provoked “irreparable damage” to the wall, Remnants of fortifications built by Chinese emperors to deter foreign raiders.

The first parts of the wall date back more than two thousand years, and were later extended to include all of them Ancient dynasties in China. A section of the wall dating back to the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644), known as the Thirty-Second Great Wall, was damaged. It also houses a relatively well-preserved observatory and is listed as a regional cultural heritage site.

In recent years, the Chinese authorities have strengthened the protection of the Great Wall of China and suppressed acts of sabotage. In 2021, police arrested three visitors and imposed a hefty fine They carved the famous part of the Badaling Wall with a sharp tool.

Later that year, Chinese authorities banned two foreign tourists from entering the Great Wall after encroaching on an undeveloped portion of the Mutianyu Section.