Eight Chinese police officers hurt in clashes with 100 ‘eviction officials’
Cops come off worse after trying to prevent urban management teams from forcibly removing people from their homes
A long-running dispute over a property development in central China escalated into violence on Sunday as police clashed with urban management officials accused of intimidating people into leaving their homes, according to a news report.
Four police officers were taken to hospital and four others were also hurt in clashes with more than 100 urban management officials in the city of Shangqiu, Henan province, The Beijing News reported on Wednesday.
The incident happened as the plain clothes officials – known as chengguan in Mandarin – were trying to evict people from a residential area slated for redevelopment, the report said.
One homeowner, identified only by her surname, Wang, filmed the incident from inside her property, footage of which was later shared by the newspaper on Weibo, China’s Twitter-like service.
“Bulldozers stopped outside in front of our courtyard. Ours was the first door they started to break down,” she said. “I kept reporting it to the police, phoning continuously. By the time we had phoned they had already broken the door down and come in.”