China's former president escorted out of party meeting - before 'disappearing' from the internet

Hu Jintao, who served as general secretary of the Communist Party of China from 2002 to 2012, seemed reluctant to leave the front row of the Palace's Great Hall debates from Beijing. People

Video loading

Video not available

Click to playTap to play

China: Moment Ex-Chinese President Escorted Out of Party

Alarming footage shows China's ex-president Hu Jintao being escorted out of the Communist Party Congress - hours before he disappeared from his country's social media.

The country's censors appeared to be quick to scrub any recent references to the 79-year-old politician from the web after his departure disrupted the event at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing.

But the former leader appeared disoriented and reluctant to leave the front row of the proceedings, where he sat next to President Xi Jinping. In the footage, shared online, a steward attempts to grab a seated Hu by the arm but is shaken.

Mr. Xi, 69, is seated holding papers on the desk as Mr. Hu tries to grab them.

Former President Hu Jintao (right) reportedly fell ill during the ceremony (

Picture:

Getty Images)

Mr. Hu, who served as general secretary of the Communist Party of China from 2002 to 2012, was eventually kicked out of the building. Search results for him on Weibo, China's version of Twitter, have since appeared to be heavily censored.

Authorities have offered no explanation for Mr. Hu's exit, which came just before the 2,300 delegates to Congress voted unanimously to endorse Mr. Xi's "essential" leadership position.

But state media claimed that Hu "did not feel well" during the ceremony.