China: Clashes with the chengguan in two cities

RFA/Mandarin — Monday, Feb. 25, 2008. From Hong Kong-based reporter Qiao Long:

Last week in southern China’s Nanning city, a vegetable peddler was beaten up by urban management officers, triggering confrontation between angry bystanders and the officers for about two hours.

According to China’s Nanguo Zaobao newspaper, on the afternoon of Feb. 23, urban management officers, also known as the chengguan, from the Liangqing District confiscated the vegetables belonging to a peddler. The thing happened at the Qianjin Road in the Dashatian area. The middle-aged peddler then picked up a brick to hit the officers’ car. The officers jumped out of the car, trying to pull the peddler into their car. In the process, a witness said, four or five urban management officers beat up the peddler with sugar cane, or kicked him. Angry bystanders encircled the two cars of the officers, blocking their exit.

China: Mass show of sympathy over Hubei man beaten to death

Thousands of ordinary Chinese citizens have gathered outside government offices in the central city of Tianmen, Hubei province, in a popular wave of anger and sympathy following the beating to death of a man last week by law enforcement officials.

Wei Wenhua, the manager of a water resources construction company connected to the municipal government water resources department, and a member of the ruling Communist Party, was beaten to death by a dozen urban management officials, or chengguan, on Jan. 7.

The officials were angry because he filmed them, using his mobile phone camera, clashing with local residents opposed to waste-dumping on a site near their homes.

China: Who are the chengguan?

UPDATE: more on the Wei Wenhua story here, including reaction from Chinese netizens.  

Several thousand people gathered outside the municipal government buildings in Tianmen city, in the central Chinese province of Hubei Wednesday, RFA’s Mandarin service reports. They were demanding redress for the beating to death by an urban management official (城管 – chengguan) of a construction company executive after he recorded a street-side fracas with his mobile phone.

China: Guangxi riots over girl’s beating

Lan Yuanxian, a 16 year-old migrant worker from Anhui, was beaten up by two or three officials from the municipal management bureau of the Guilin city government, she told RFA’s Cantonese service(ZH) from her hospital bed.

The incident began outside the Ximen vegetable market in the Xiangshan district of the city when a truck wanted to make a delivery of oil to a shop there. Lan’s bicycle was parked in the way for about five minutes, for which local city management officials tried to fine her 50 yuan. Lan protested and argued with them, and was beaten up. Another woman was beaten with truncheons when she tried to stop them.

The incident sparked protests in which more than 1,000 people encircled the city officials’ cars, refusing to leave. More than 50 riot police were called in to disperse the crowd, which took about two hours.