Police closed off roads in Beijing on International Human Rights Day after an elderly man threatened to blow up a bridge close to the government office responsible for receiving petitions by citizens seeking help with their problems.

A photograph of the incident around noon on Thursday showed the man holding up a suspected grenade and a bag thought to contain his petition. A police sniper was called to the scene on Taoran Bridge, before officers surrounded and arrested the man.

The area is a hotspot for petitioners because of the nearby State Bureau for Letters and Visits. The man told onlookers the bureau had ignored his petitions and that he couldn’t stand living any longer, a witness said.

Authorities tried to suppress the photograph, but the image was circulated online and among other petitioners. The elderly man had no choice but to take drastic action in order to get attention, one petitioner said.

The extreme lengths to which the man was forced to go to be heard show human rights in China are a joke, one netizen commented. The man was only one among the many people living in poor conditions around the bridge while trying to get the government to accept their petitions, another netizen said.

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