Angry residents in a southern Chinese city went on the rampage after officials reportedly beat to death a disabled fruit vendor, state media said yesterday, in the latest incident of social unrest in the world’s second-largest economy.
The China Daily said that thousands of people gathered on the streets of Anshun City in Guizhou Province on Tuesday afternoon, throwing stones at police and overturning a government vehicle.
The riot was sparked after urban management officers — a quasi-police force that enforces laws against begging and other petty offences — were suspected of beating the vendor to death, the newspaper said.
“The unidentified vendor died in front of the gate of a market ... which led to the gathering of the local people,” it cited a government statement as saying.
“Before the incident occurred, urban management officers were working in the area,” it added, saying the statement gave no other details.
The newspaper showed a picture of an urban management vehicle that had been overturned, along with smashed windows and doors that had been torn off.
Xinhua news agency said about 30 protesters and 10 police officers were injured in the unrest.
The elder brother of the dead man has “consented to [an] autopsy and asked police to seek justice,” it added. “Police are questioning six city management staff members involved in the case.”
Footage on China’s popular Youku.com Web site, the country’s answer to YouTube, showed a large crowd gathered in the street, and what seemed to be a body on the ground shaded by umbrellas.
An overturned vehicle could be seen in the distance, along with many police officers and a black armored car used by China’s riot police.
Reuters could not authenticate the footage, nor when it was taken. Calls to the Anshun government seeking comment went unanswered.
“It was a total mess,” one onlooker surnamed Jiang told the China Daily. “The people threw stones at the police officers and my feet were hit by flying rocks.”
Hong Kong’s Ming Pao newspaper said that the police used water cannons to disperse the protesters, who finally left the scene late in the evening.
In his National Day Rally speech on Sunday, Singaporean Prime Minister Lawrence Wong (黃循財) quoted the Taiwanese song One Small Umbrella (一支小雨傘) to describe his nation’s situation. Wong’s use of such a song shows Singapore’s familiarity with Taiwan’s culture and is a perfect reflection of exchanges between the two nations, Representative to Singapore Tung Chen-yuan (童振源) said yesterday in a post on Facebook. Wong quoted the song, saying: “As the rain gets heavier, I will take care of you, and you,” in Mandarin, using it as a metaphor for Singaporeans coming together to face challenges. Other Singaporean politicians have also used Taiwanese songs
NORTHERN STRIKE: Taiwanese military personnel have been training ‘in strategic and tactical battle operations’ in Michigan, a former US diplomat said More than 500 Taiwanese troops participated in this year’s Northern Strike military exercise held at Lake Michigan by the US, a Pentagon-run news outlet reported yesterday. The Michigan National Guard-sponsored drill involved 7,500 military personnel from 36 nations and territories around the world, the Stars and Stripes said. This year’s edition of Northern Strike, which concluded on Sunday, simulated a war in the Indo-Pacific region in a departure from its traditional European focus, it said. The change indicated a greater shift in the US armed forces’ attention to a potential conflict in Asia, it added. Citing a briefing by a Michigan National Guard senior
CHIPMAKING INVESTMENT: J.W. Kuo told legislators that Department of Investment Review approval would be needed were Washington to seek a TSMC board seat Minister of Economic Affairs J.W. Kuo (郭智輝) yesterday said he received information about a possible US government investment in Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) and an assessment of the possible effect on the firm requires further discussion. If the US were to invest in TSMC, the plan would need to be reviewed by the Department of Investment Review, Kuo told reporters ahead of a hearing of the legislature’s Economics Committee. Kuo’s remarks came after US Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick on Tuesday said that the US government is looking into the federal government taking equity stakes in computer chip manufacturers that
CLAMPING DOWN: At the preliminary stage on Jan. 1 next year, only core personnel of the military, the civil service and public schools would be subject to inspections Regular checks are to be conducted from next year to clamp down on military personnel, civil servants and public-school teachers with Chinese citizenship or Chinese household registration, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said yesterday. Article 9-1 of the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (臺灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例) stipulates that Taiwanese who obtain Chinese household registration or a Chinese passport would be deprived of their Taiwanese citizenship and lose their right to work in the military, public service or public schools, it said. To identify and prevent the illegal employment of holders of Chinese ID cards or
RSS