Six urban enforcers held over Hunan watermelon seller death

Six Chinese local government employees involved in a dispute that saw a roadside watermelon seller die have been detained, state media reported on Friday as outrage over power abuses mounted.

Deng Zhengjia, 56, was beaten to death on Wednesday by local regulation enforcers known as “chengguan” for selling watermelons at a street stall without a licence, Chinese media reported previously.

The officials in Linwu county, in the central province of Hunan, kicked and punched Deng and one used a metal measuring weight to smash his head, the reports said, citing his wife.

He had recently moved his stall in accordance with instructions from chengguan and paid 100 yuan (HK$126) in fines, she said.

The county government held a press conference on Thursday, said the Beijing News, after the news sparked an outpouring of online anger.

Six chengguan “involved in the matter” had been taken into police custody, county officials said, according to the report.

They said preliminary investigations showed the enforcers did not smash Deng’s head with the weight and a postmortem was being conducted.