Hundreds Riot in China Over Beating
By AUDRA ANG
The Associated Press
Thursday, July 13, 2006; 6:01 AM
BEIJING -- Hundreds of protesters overturned police vehicles and threw bricks
after a migrant worker was beaten up for refusing to pay for a resident's permit,
a newspaper said. It said several people were hospitalized with injuries.
The riot on Monday night in Guiyang, the capital of southern Guizhou province,
highlights tensions over China's tens of millions of migrant workers who have left
the countryside to look for work in cities, often settling in urban areas
in violation of strict household registration rules.
Witnesses said the migrant, identified only by his surname, Guo, was stopped in a
park by people hired by police to check identity papers, according to the state-run
Guizhou Metropolitan News. Such civilian forces who assist police are common
in Chinese cities.
Guo didn't have a permit to live in the city and refused to pay for one, the report
said Wednesday. It said he was found shortly afterward bleeding from a severe
head wound.
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