Fury in China as deliveryman kneels before guard

Videos of a delivery rider kneeling before a security guard has led to protests in China

Chinese authorities have called for gig workers to be treated with kindness after videos of a delivery rider kneeling before a security guard led to protests by dozens of riders.

Guards stopped the rider from leaving a building in Hangzhou on Monday - saying he damaged railings while scaling them during a rushed delivery.

Worried that his subsequent deliveries would be delayed, the rider got on his knees and pleaded to be let go, the city's police said in a statement.

The incident sparked outrage online, with many urging better protections for workers in the industry.

Some 12 million people work as delivery riders in China, and the pandemic has fuelled explosive growth in the sector.

But the industry - much like in the rest of the world - is notorious for its tight deadlines, where low-wage riders are subject to tough penalties over delays and poor customer feedback.

Many also work long days, earning less than a dollar for each delivery.

The incident on Monday drew huge crowds of angry delivery riders to the building in downtown Hangzhou, leading the police to dispatch dozen of officers to manage the situation - including from the special weapons and tactics team.

Videos shared on social media show the riders chanting, "Apologise! Apologise!"

At one point, they start belting out China's national anthem.

Hangzhou police issued a statement on Tuesday urging the public to "stay calm and seek to understand one another".

Meituan, the delivery platform that the rider in question was working for, said it will "take thorough responsibility" to look into whether he was treated unfairly, and ensure its delivery riders are properly protected.

The platform added that it has paid to repair the broken railings.

Hashtags related to the incident have clocked up hundreds of millions of views on microblogging platform Weibo in the last few days.

Some users condemned the security guards' "bullying tactics", while others acknowledged that the rider had made a mistake.

"They are both low-wage workers. Why did it have to come to this?" one user wrote. "It's a hot day, it's not easy for all of us. Let's try to empathise with one another."

Others cited poor working conditions as a factor.

"Why do delivery riders break traffic rules so often? It's simple. They will be fined if their deliveries are delayed," another user wrote.

"This is the power of the platforms they work for. And so the riders work as hard as they can and risk their lives in order to complete what they have to do.

"It's exactly how sweatshops function."

China has over the years introduced guidelines to protect the rights and interests of gig workers, but problems remain.

Incidents of riders clashing with security guards in China have made headlines in the past.

In January this year, a delivery rider in the eastern city of Qingdao was stabbed to death by a security guard for entering a building without authorisation.

Research by the China Labour Bulletin, a Hong Kong-based NGO, shows gig workers have held at least 400 protests in the last five years to demand improvements.