[Onthebarricades] CHINA: Mass unrest in Zhengzhou after student beaten

Fri Jun 8 14:25:48 PDT 2007

NOTE:  YouTube has video footage of the unrest.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1rcUEPqJCxI
Street inspectors, similar to neighbourhood wardens and similar moral policing goons, often prompt unrest by engaging in harassment over petty deviance.  Zhengzhou, the site of the unrest, saw similar revolts a year ago over student diplomas.

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http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/world/20070607-0305-china-studentriot.html

Activist group says students riot in central China after inspectors beat up female student 

By Anita Chang
ASSOCIATED PRESS 

3:05 a.m. June 7, 2007 

BEIJING - A thousand college students rioted in central China this week, scuffling with police and overturning cars after city inspectors beat a female student, a human rights group said Thursday. 
Hundreds of police were called for backup as students from three universities surrounded the two inspectors who had assaulted the student and knocked out her front teeth Wednesday night, the Information Center for Human Rights and Democracy said in a statement. 

The students overturned a police car and a car belonging to the city inspectors in Zhengzhou, the capital of Henan province, the statement said. One car was set on fire during the four-hour riot. 

The Hong Kong-based rights group said police led away five students, but it was not clear if they were detained. 

The local Dahe newspaper, citing information from the city government, said authorities met overnight to decide how to punish the inspectors. Six were detained, two were demoted and four received administrative discipline, the newspaper said. 

It was not clear why the city inspectors assaulted the female student or whether her stall was illegal. The inspectors regulate street vendors, making sure they have proper licenses and are selling in permitted areas. 

In the newspaper's account, residents and students came out to watch after inspectors confronted the student. In the process, conflict broke out between inspectors and some "individual" students and citizens, the newspaper said. 

Officials with the city's police, public security bureau, communist party and hospitals all said they were "unclear" or "not aware" of the riot. 

Campus unrest is treated with extreme sensitivity in China, where 1989 student pro-democracy protests led to the bloody military crackdown in Beijing's Tiananmen Square. 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/6729557.stm

      Students go on rampage in China  

      Hundreds of students have rioted against the police in central China after a fellow student was beaten up by city inspectors, witnesses said. 
      Students from a number of universities in Zhengzhou, Henan province, burned cars in the four-hour rampage. 

      They came out onto the streets after inspectors were accused of assaulting a woman student who had set up a street stall, knocking out her front teeth. 

      A number of inspectors have been disciplined over the incident. 

            I saw more than 10 people running after an inspector and trying to beat him, and some other people overturned a car and set fire to it 

            Student witness 

      The unrest broke out on Wednesday, after the student was beaten up for apparently selling items on the street without a licence. 

      As many as 1,000 students from at least three universities took part in the protest, the Hong Kong-based Information Center for Human Rights said. 

      As well as clashing with police, the students overturned cars belonging to police and inspectors and burned at least one of the vehicles. 

      "I was also selling things on the street, and I could not take it any more, when I saw them beating up a girl, so I joined the riot by throwing a brick at the inspectors," one student was quoted by Reuters news agency as saying. 

      Another said: "I saw more than 10 people running after an inspector and trying to beat him, and some other people overturned a car and set fire to it." 

      Roads were blocked into the night, and by Thursday morning the city was reported to be quiet. 

      The Chinese Communist Party is very uneasy about this kind of large protest and is deeply wary of social unrest, the BBC's James Reynolds in Beijing says. 

      But the central government also wants to show that it is prepared to take action against heavy-handed local authorities. 

      Six inspectors were detained, two were sacked and four were given official warnings, the local Dahe newspaper reported.

http://www.rfa.org/english/multimedia/2007/06/07/zhengzhou_riot/

Two Thousand People Riot in Zhengzhou city
2007.06.07 
Riots broke out in Zhengzhou city, Henan province, on the evening of June 6. About two thousand students and residents surrounded and yelled at the police who was protecting a city inspector who had beaten up a female university student. Five students were arrested.

Many residents captured the riotous moment on video with their cellphones as the police tried to shield the inspector and other policemen. The witness who provided RFA with this video footage tried to post it on a Chinese content sharing Web site but the file was taken down within an hour.

The video shows an exited crowd, yelling "get him out, get him out." The protestors eventually set the police car on fire. The riots lasted until midnight.

The following day, Zhengzhou government announced that one city inspector and four policemen were detained, two supervisors were dismissed and four other city inspectors and one policeman received warnings. They also said that the female student who was beaten had been hospitalized and was in good condition. She was vending goods in the street to make extra money when the city inspectors approached her and beat her.

http://www.radioaustralia.net.au/news/stories/s1946704.htm

      Last Updated 08/06/2007, 22:33:49 Select text size:    

China officials questioned beating 

A number of government officials and police officers in central China have been questioned over the beating of a woman that sparked a riot by thousands of angry protestors.

The unrest broke out in Zhengzhou, the capital of Henan province, after city inspectors beat a female college student for illegally selling items on the street.

The beating sent about 2000 angry Zhengzhou residents into the streets, where they clashed with the inspectors and police for several hours.

Two inspection team leaders have been dismissed, one city inspector and six police officers have been detained, and three other higher-level officials have been reprimanded.

The woman was treated in hospital. 

http://in.today.reuters.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=worldNews&storyID=2007-06-07T152734Z_01_NOOTR_RTRJONC_0_India-301890-3.xml&archived=False

Hundreds of students riot in central China
Thu Jun 7, 2007 3:52 PM IST

BEIJING (Reuters) - Hundreds of Chinese students clashed with police and overturned and burnt their car after street inspectors beat up a female student, a police officer and witnesses said on Thursday, the latest in a series of public disturbances.

Students from several universities in Zhengzhou, in the central province of Henan, went on the rampage on Wednesday after a student vendor was beaten by several inspectors as they cleared her unlicensed stall, a student witness told Reuters.

Last June, thousands of students from the same city smashed windows and ransacked their campus in a riot sparked by anger over the wording of their diplomas.

"I was also selling things on the street, and I could not take it any more, when I saw them even beating up a girl, so I joined the riot by throwing a brick at the inspectors," a student from the Henan University of Finance and Economics said.

"I saw more than 10 people running after an inspector and trying to beat him, and some other people overturned a car and set fire to it," other student witness said by telephone.

About 100 police, some armed with electric rods and shields, arrived on the scene, sealing the street and taking people away, the student said.

The Information Centre for Human Rights and Democracy put the number of students rioting at 1,000. One witness put it at 2,000.

A police officer also confirmed the riot.

"A lot of students were rioting last night, and the situation was quite serious," the official, surnamed Wang, told Reuters. "The general city police office had to send more police to help," she said by phone, adding that the case was under investigation.

The girl lost her front teeth in the clash and five students were detained by police, the rights centre said.

Six inspectors were detained, two were sacked and four received warnings, the local Dahe News paper said, citing a government notice.

Unrest of any kind is highly sensitive in China, whose Communist government prizes stability and brooks no challenges to its power. But student protests are an even more potent symbol because of a legacy of student activism, most recently in the 1989 pro-democracy demonstrations on Tiananmen Square.

Clashes between members of the public and the inspectors, known as "cheng guan" and mainly responsible for cracking down on unlicensed hawkers suspected of selling unsanitary food or low- quality goods, are common.

In April, a roadside vendor in Beijing was given a suspended death sentence for slitting an inspector's throat.

The inspectors were set up across China in the late 1990s to ease the burden on police and ensure cities were clean and orderly. But critics say they have become a huge interest group thriving on fines and confiscations with over-reaching power.

A widening gap between rich and poor, corruption and official abuses of power have fuelled demonstrations and riots around the country that are often sparked by seemingly minor issues.

http://www.hostelbookers.com/info/news/18173051

Student riots in China
The central Chinese province of Henan has been disturbed by rioting students, after a female student was beaten up by street inspectors.

The student had allegedly been working on a street stall without a licence, when an argument with street inspectors descended into violence, sparking the widespread unrest.

Police cars were overturned and burnt and bricks thrown as hundreds of students protested over another apparent instance of corrupt behaviour from Chinese officialdom.

A student from the Henan University of Finance and Economics explained his involvement to Reuters: 

"I was also selling things on the street and I could not take it any more, when I saw them beating up a girl, so I joined the riot by throwing a brick at the inspectors."

Over 100 police, some armed with riot gear arrived to quell the riots - five students were detained by the police.

This was not an isolated incident, with many Chinese citizens furious at the heavy-handed approach of the "cheng guan" (street inspectors).

Conflict has become increasingly common since their introduction to China in the late 90s .

In April, a Beijing man received a suspended death sentence after slitting the throat of an inspector. 
Published: 7 June 2007 

http://english.pravda.ru/news/society/07-06-2007/92974-china_riot-0
Student's riot breaks out in central China after inspectors beat female student
Angered students rioted in Central China this week, clashing against police and overturning cars after city inspectors beat a female student who had set up a street stall, a human rights group said Thursday. 

     BREAKING NEWS 

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Hundreds of police were called for backup as students from three universities surrounded the two inspectors who had assaulted the student and knocked out her front teeth Wednesday night, the Information Center for Human Rights and Democracy said in a statement. 

The students overturned a police car and another belonging to the city inspectors in Zhengzhou, the capital of Henan province, the statement said. One car was set on fire in the riot that lasted for about four hours. 

The Hong Kong-based rights group said five students were taken away by police, but it was not clear if they were detained. 

The local Dahe newspaper, citing information from the city government, said authorities met overnight to decide on punishment for the inspectors involved. Six were detained, two were demoted and four received administrative discipline, the newspaper said. 

In the newspaper's account of the events, residents and students came out to watch after inspectors confronted the female student. In the process, conflict broke out between inspectors and some "individual" students and citizens. 

Officials with the city police, public security bureau, Communist party and hospitals all said they were "unclear" or "not aware" of the riot. 

Campus unrest is treated with extreme sensitivity in China, where 1989 student pro-democracy protests led to the bloody military crackdown in Beijing's Tiananmen Square. 

College students rioted in Zhengzhou last year, after administrative changes made diplomas less prestigious for students at the Shengda Economics, Trade and Management College. They smashed offices and set fires after what they said were broken promises that they would get degrees from the better-known Zhengzhou University, which Shengda is affiliated with. 

http://tvnz.co.nz/view/page/411749/1170791
Students riot in central China
Jun 7, 2007 

Hundreds of Chinese students clashed with police and overturned and burnt their car after street inspectors beat up a female student, a police officer and witnesses said in the latest in a series of public disturbances.

Students from several universities in Zhengzhou, in the central province of Henan, went on the rampage after a student vendor was beaten by several inspectors as they cleared her unlicensed stall, a student witness told Reuters.

Last June, thousands of students from the same city smashed windows and ransacked their campus in a riot sparked by anger over the wording of their diplomas.

"I was also selling things on the street, and I could not take it any more, when I saw them even beating up a girl, so I joined the riot by throwing a brick at the inspectors," a student from the Henan University of Finance and Economics said.

"I saw more than 10 people running after an inspector and trying to beat him, and some other people overturned a car and set fire to it," other student witness said by telephone.

About 100 police, some armed with electric rods and shields, arrived on the scene, sealing the street and taking people away, the student said.

The Information Centre for Human Rights and Democracy put the number of students rioting at 1,000. One witness put it at 2,000.

A police officer also confirmed the riot.

"A lot of students were rioting last night, and the situation was quite serious," the official, surnamed Wang, told Reuters. "The general city police office had to send more police to help," she said by phone, adding that the case was under investigation.

The girl lost her front teeth in the clash and five students were detained by police, the rights centre said.

Six inspectors were detained, two were sacked and four received warnings, the local Dahe News paper said, citing a government notice.

Unrest of any kind is highly sensitive in China, whose Communist government prizes stability and brooks no challenges to its power. But student protests are an even more potent symbol because of a legacy of student activism, most recently in the 1989 pro-democracy demonstrations on Tiananmen Square.

Clashes between members of the public and the inspectors, known as "cheng guan" and mainly responsible for cracking down on unlicensed hawkers suspected of selling unsanitary food or low- quality goods, are common.

In April, a roadside vendor in Beijing was given a suspended death sentence for slitting an inspector's throat.

The inspectors were set up across China in the late 1990s to ease the burden on police and ensure cities were clean and orderly. But critics say they have become a huge interest group thriving on fines and confiscations with over-reaching power.

A widening gap between rich and poor, corruption and official abuses of power have fuelled demonstrations and riots around the country that are often sparked by seemingly minor issues.
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