Thousands riot as officials in China's Taizhou City beat street hawkers

376 words
1 July 2010
20:15
BBC Monitoring Asia Pacific
BBCAPP
English
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Text of report by Hong Kong Information Centre for Human Rights and Democracy on 30 June

[Hong Kong Information Centre for Human Rights and Democracy report: "Beating of Street Hawkers by City Management Personnel in Taizhou, Jiangsu, Sparks Rioting by Thousands of Residents, Several People Seriously Injured"]

(30 June 2010) - -This Centre has learned that the beating of street hawkers by City Management personnel set off large-scale disorder last night in Taizhou City, Jiangsu Province. Several thousand members of the public clashed with hundreds of Public Security personnel. A number of city residents were seriously injured in the rioting and had to be taken away in ambulances.

This Centre has learned that yesterday evening a clash occurred between City Management [cheng guan, abbr. for City Management and Law Enforcement Bureau] personnel and some street hawkers from Anhui, near Ximenqiao [West Gate Bridge] in Taizhou. Some of the street hawkers were beaten, after which street hawkers from various places all gathered at Ximenqiao and brawled with the City Management personnel. More and more members of the public gathered there as the night progressed. Several thousand people surrounded and besieged the City Management personnel. The authorities sent several hundred Public Security riot police to the scene. According to members of the public who were at the scene, a number of people were seriously injured in the rioting, many stretchers and ambulances appeared at the scene, and a stretch of road more than a hundred meters long was a complete shambles. City residents who were at the scene put pictures of the rioting on a Taizhou website, but they were very quickly removed.

On the eve of the "5 July" incident [anniversary], security has been beefed up in all the areas throughout the country where ethnic minorities congregate. Some areas where ethnic Hui people live are under 24 hour a day watch by special police. In Tibet and Tibetan areas of various provinces, armoured vehicles have even started patrolling. In Xinjiang the situation is so tense that universities, academies and schools have told students not to go outside at night.

Source: Information Centre for Human Rights and Democracy, Hong Kong, in Chinese 30 Jun 10