A street vendor says he and his wife were attacked by urban enforcement officers. Photo: Handout
Source:
https://scmp.com/news/china/society/article/2108105/chinas-notorious-urban-enforcement-officials-beat-street-vendors China
China’s notorious urban enforcers beat street vendors
It is the latest case of alleged violence involving chengguan, who have a reputation on the mainland for brutally enforcing local by-laws
Two pictures of the chengguan attacking the couple in Kunming. Photo: Handout
China’s notorious urban enforcement officials have been accused of beating up two street vendors in southwest China.
It is the latest case of alleged violence involving the officials, who have a reputation on the mainland for enforcing local by-laws – such as on street trading – with excessive force.
Two officers are accused of beating the married couple in Kunming in Yunnan province last Thursday.
Part of the attack was shown in a 20-second video circulated online, according to the news website Thecover.cn.
The two officers are first seen beating the man. The woman tries to stop one officer and he strikes her with a long, metal sun parasol pole, causing her to fall to the ground.
The man assaulted, aged 63, and the woman, 55, were later sent to hospital.
The man received four stitches to his head while his wife suffered a fractured nasal bone. Both were also badly bruised, the report said.
The man told the news website that they were about to start unloading vegetables to sell from their bike when they were confronted by the urban enforcement officials, who are known as chengguan in China.
“One officer pointed at my nose and demanded I leave,” the man said.
He then fended off the officer’s hand and the two attacked him, he was quoted as saying.
The man’s daughter told the website that her parents’ medical costs were over 10,000 yuan (US$1,500), but they had no more money to pay for extra treatment.
The local urban enforcement authority was investigating the incident, the report said.