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Six held following assault on Henan police officers
By Xie Yu (China Daily)
Updated: 2008-07-22 07:39
Six people who attacked five police officers in Zhengzhou, capital of Henan province, during a traffic dispute were detained on Saturday, Dahe Daily reported. One policeman, Jia Shiliang, is still in hospital, while the others have been discharged after treatment. Police said on Sunday they had detained three men and three women. The attack took place on Friday when the six from Liaoning province had a dispute with three electric bicycle riders. They accused the riders of blocking their way and started to assault them. Jia arrived at the scene to investigate. As the car driver could not provide his driving license, Jia took away the key to the car and asked the six to accompany him to the Yellow River administration bureau nearby to settle the matter. As soon as Jia entered the bureau's reception office, the six started beating him and took his money and cell phone. A woman bit Jia on the stomach and accused him of stripping her. "People saw her strip off her clothes. How can she accuse me of such a thing," the 51-year-old police officer was quoted by Dahe Daily as saying. About 20 police officers came to Jia's help, but were also attacked by the six. Forty minutes later, the six were finally subdued. They were taken to hospital for alcohol tests, which proved positive. In the first six months of this year, there have been more than 10 cases of attacks on policemen. Legislators for years have been calling for attacks on policemen to be included in the criminal law. Currently, it is not a crime to attack a police officer. It is only a crime to disrupt public order, which carries a maximum sentence of three years in prison. Meng Fanyong, Jia's colleague, told China Daily that due to the lack of legislation, it was difficult to protect themselves when enforcing the law. (China Daily 07/22/2008 page4) |
