Blind Beggar Beaten & Thrown into Water by Yunnan Chengguan
by Peter Barefoot on Wednesday, March 27, 2013
From QQ:
Yunnan Zhaotong City Management Official Beats Up Blind Beggar and Throws Him into Pond
According to Yunnan.cn (reported by Xu Hongyi), at 6:41pm on the 24th, netizen “Angelbaby_杨露” posted a microblog post on Tencent Weibo, claiming “severalchengguan law enforcement officers in Zhaotong City had beat up a blind beggar and tossed him into the water”. In less than two days of the posting of this weibo, it had been viewed 4.34 million times. At the same time, many netizens posted posts with the same content on China’s major discussion forums triggering heated discussions, with comments being very sharp and harsh.
This Yunnan.cn reporter has also been @-ed [to be mentioned on microblog posts or had microblog posts directed at] over 500 times by numerous netizens. In order to find out the truth behind the “several chengguan law enforcement officers in Zhaotong City beating up a blind beggar and tossing him into the water”, this reporter conducted an investigation today [March 25].
Witness claims chengguan beating was cruel
“No matter what he had done, whether he was right or wrong, chengguan law enforcement personnel shouldn’t have beat him!” Mr. Zhu, who does business on Zhaongtong City’s Xi Street, told this reporter while pointing at the pool in the middle of Xi Street. At about 3:10pm on the 22nd, three chengguan in front of the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China on Xi Street confiscated the ID card for disability, ID card, and the guide cane of a blind man who was begging for money, then beat him up, and pushed him into the pool afterwards. The reason for these chengguan law enforcement staff to beat up this blind man is unknown, but their conduct was very cruel!
“If what the weibo says is true, then these chengguan should suffer moral condemnation and the punishment of the law!” “In terms of empathy, chengguan are too cold and indifferent!” “Chengguan beating up people has brought a very bad influence upon Zhaotong, I hope the truth will be investigated, and that thechengguan are taught a lessn, to prevent similar situations from happening in the future…” Voices on the internet condemning “chengguan beating up people” can be heard without end. After this Yunnan.cn reporter posted a weibo indicating an intent to look into this incident, many netizens called and expressed hope that the Zhaoyang government and the relevant departments will issue a response to this incident.
Government makes public apology, assailants have been suspended
Regarding the “Zhaotong chengguan beat up blind beggar and tossed him into pool” incident that has been exposed on the internet, this reporter contacted the Zhaotong City Zhaoyang District Party Committee Propaganda Department, and the Propaganda Department has issued a response to this incident, with the response stating: The “Zhaotong chengguan beat up blind beggar and tossed him into pool” incident exposed on the internet has been verified, and following research by the 20th Standing Committee of Zhaoyang District Party Committee of the Chinese Communist Party, it has been decided that Zhaoyang District Bureau of Housing and Urban Redevelopment Deputy Director and Party Committee member Dai Hongyi, Zhaoyang District Urban Management Inspection Team Leader Zi Chenglin, Zhangyang District Urban Management Inspection Team Xi Street Squad Leader Wang Junji, and chengguan employees Yi Shilong, Ma Jun, Ma Rong be suspended from work and be investigated.
The investigation team is to be assembled as soon as possible to launch an investigation into this incident, with further action to be taken after the investigation is completed, with the investigation results and actions taken to be promptly made known to society and netizens. Deputy Head of District in Charge of the Zhaoyang District People’s Government is to make a public apology to He Shiyin (the blind man who was beaten), and we thank all sectors of society for your supervision of the Zhaoyang District’s city management. In addition to this response, this reporter also come to know that after the incident had happened, major leaders of the Zhaoyang District Committee and District Government have attached great importance to this incident, with District Committee Secretary Ma Jilin visiting the beaten blind man He Shiyin at the hospital with the relevant leaders, and claimed that they would investigate and strictly punish thechengguan who beat up him.
Yunnan.cn will continue to follow this incident!
