Over 10 injured in chengguan clash

Over 10 injured in chengguan clash

• Source: Global Times
• [08:41 March 24 2011]
• Comments

By Fang Yunyu

More than 10 people were injured in a clash between 20 street vendors and 60 chengguan, or city management officers, in Daxing district Tuesday afternoon, as the peddlers protested officers' attempts to confiscate their goods.

"This was an incident of street vendors using violence against law enforcement," Daxing Party committee spokesman Yu Tie said Wednesday.

One vendor has been detained so far, and Daxing police are investigating the case, according to Yu.

At around 3 pm on Tuesday, chengguan officers attempted to confiscate the goods of over 20 sellers of clothing and housewares outside Daxing's Huoshenmiao Commercial Center.

As vendors attempted to recover their items, tensions escalated as pushing and shoving between the two groups turned to punches and bloodshed.

A vendor surnamed Li told the Beijing News that chengguan beat him over the head with helmets, and that around five officers dragged another vendor for a few meters.

Three bystanders were also injured in the chaos, Yu said.

As officers attempted to send one elderly bystander to the hospital after he was knocked down, a vendor lay in front of their vehicle to try and stop them from leaving. The officers had to drag him out of the way, according to Yu.

"Two officers and four vendors were sent to a nearby hospital for treatment of minor injuries to their heads and necks," Yu said.

Chengguan have gained notoriety in recent years. In 2009, an internal booklet instructing officers how to administer violence was leaked online and received harsh criticism.

"The incident is just an isolated case," Yu said. "Officers still need to do their duty."

Yu further stated that chengguan will not reverse or take a more gentle approach toward their work, and that physical conflict on the job is normal.