Death of sugar cane seller reignites debate on reforming chengguan
Hunan chengguan deny involvement in death of Xu Lizhong
Contradictory statements about a sugar cane seller’s death have added fuel to an ongoing debate about excessive violence by chengguan, members of an official force tasked with enforcing municipal bylaws.
Photos of a dead man lying next to a chengguan vehicle circulated widely on Sunday on Chinese social media.
The man was later identified as 62-year-old Xu Lizhong, a shopowner selling sugar cane. Family members told the Southern Metropolis Daily they witnessed Xu dying after being pushed by officers in a brawl.
“The law enforcement vehicle seen in photos uploaded by netizens on weibo is not our vehicle. Our department’s employees did not partake in this act,” the Yiyang Municipal Law Enforcement Department, tasked with enforcing municipal by-laws, rushed to say in a microblog post on Sunday.
However the denial by the municipal force later disappeared from the weibo account. By the evening, the Ziyang district public information office said three chengguan officers were being investigated over Xu’s “sudden death”.
Xu's death is the latest in a long list of tragic cases brought on by alleged excessive violence on the part of chengguan officials that have provoked nationwide outrage and calls for reform on China’s online public space.
