An incident during the recent holiday has brought heavyhanded tactics by Kunming's urban management officers – aka chengguan – back into the spotlight.

This time a Kunming policeman is alleging that a large group of chengguan broke his leg when they beat him as he was collecting his belongings from his home, which was scheduled to be demolished.

The policeman, who was interviewed by Spring City Evening News under the pseudonym Zhang, said that he went to his home on December 24 to collect some personal belongings. His apartment complex was soon to be demolished for redevelopment and he had heard that chengguan were doing a final sweep of the buildings and forcing residents to move out.

As Zhang arrived at the door to his apartment, he encountered what he estimated to be 20 chengguan—and an altercation followed.

Zhang said the group surrounded him and then beat him. Zhang said he identified himself as a police officer but that the chengguan continued to beat him. He said he then tried to produce his identification card but accidentally pulled out his police-issued retractable baton, which only made the chengguan's blows more severe.

A Kunming chengguan spokesperson said in a statement that the beating actually began when Zhang pulled out his baton and threatened the chengguan officers.

A neighbor estimated that the group of chengguan beat Zhang for 10 minutes, stopping only after his face became covered in blood and he passed out. He also suffered a broken right leg. Witnesses said that a group of bystanders repeatedly told the chengguan officers that they were beating a policeman.

Zhang's beating is the latest in a series of incidents in which apparent excessive force has been used by Kunming chengguan and were also involved in a clash with residents in northern Kunming that started when chengguan flipped over a 56-year-old woman's food cart.

Share this article

Comments