Hu Jintao, the former president of China, was abruptly escorted out of the Communist Party Congress' closing ceremony on Saturday in a dramatic incident that derailed the carefully scripted occasion.
Hu left without explanation, and the country's censors promptly removed all current mentions of him from the internet.
The elderly-looking 79-year-old, seated close to President Xi Jinping in the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, was hesitant to leave the front row of the proceedings.
A steward tried to grab a seated Hu by the arm but was rebuffed. The steward then attempted to raise Hu by the armpits using both hands.
Premier Li Keqiang and Hu exchanged brief words for around a minute before Hu then turned the conversation back to Xi. He was led out of the hall.
A seated Xi has filmed holding papers down on the desk as Hu tried to grab them.
Hu's departure took place not long after media were permitted entry to cover the closing ceremony at the Congress, which took place primarily behind closed doors over a week.
"Hard to come to any firm conclusions."
Hu left moments before the 2,300 Congress delegates voted unanimously to support Xi's "core" leadership position; the authorities have not given a reason.
Neil Thomas, a senior China analyst at the Eurasia Group consultancy, stated, "we still don't know what triggered Hu's actions, such as whether it was resistance to Xi's power or simply an unlucky senior moment."
Therefore, it is difficult to draw firm conclusions about how this occurrence connects to Chinese politics without sufficient evidence.
On the Twitter-like Weibo platform, search results for "Hu Jintao" looked to be extensively filtered Saturday afternoon, with the most current result being Friday and postings only coming from official accounts.
It seems almost certain that Xi will be officially named the party's general secretary for a further five years on Sunday.
As a result, Xi can easily win re-election to a third term as China's leader, which is scheduled to be revealed in March at the government's annual parliamentary sessions.
Since taking over from Hu ten years ago, Xi has become Mao Zedong's most dictatorial successor in China.
With several of his competitors imprisoned on corruption charges, Xi has crushed internal party resistance to his reign and demonstrated zero tolerance for any public protest.