Advertisement
Advertisement

Turf dispute ends in mass fight between 200 officers

Police were called to a busy Shenzhen street when a dispute between district inspectors and local militia - both hired to improve the city's public order and security - escalated into a mass fight involving more than 200 people.

The fight on Tuesday night started when Futian district disciplinary and city management officers argued with local militia over who had the right to fine a roadside cobbler, the Nanfang Daily reported.

Militia members are People's Liberation Army reservists who can be called up to help local law enforcement agencies safeguard public security and fight disasters.

Witnesses said the two groups kept calling for reinforcements and more than 200 people were involved in the fight by the time police arrived half an hour later and used tear gas to break it up.

'They were wearing uniforms and holding steel tubes and iron bars. A man even fought with a scimitar. It was very chaotic,' the newspaper quoted one witness as saying.

Others said the incident looked as if it could have been a fight between gangsters.

The case was not the first turf dispute among Shenzhen's public-order officers.

In July, municipal city management officers were handcuffed, gagged and had their trousers removed by Longhua district city management officers when they fined local vendors.

The Longhua group then paraded the trouserless officers to a nearby police station, where they allowed reporters to take pictures.

Shenzhen University law expert Zou Pingxue said the two incidents were the result of operational conflicts and a lack of co-ordination between different departments. 'It's ironic that these people [officers and militia] disrupt the public order to fight for their personal interests.'

He said local authorities should clarify administrative responsibilities and impose strict punishment to avoid similar lawlessness.

Post