The New York Times and The Times weigh in on the beating death of Wei Wenhua by “urban management” (城管）officials in Tianmen City, and the response from the blogosphere. From the New York Times:
City officials in Tianmen in Hubei Province in central China are being punished and investigated for their role in the killing of the man, Wei Wenhua, the general manager of a construction company, and the beatings of five villagers during a dispute on Jan. 7, the state-run news agency Xinhua reported.
The episode is the latest in which bloggers and others have used the Internet to force Chinese authorities to investigate beatings and other abuses by government officials.
With China’s economy booming and developers transforming big cities and even small villages with huge building projects, clashes between angry residents and public officials have increased, partly because China’s legal system is so ineffective and government corruption is perceived to be widespread. [Full text]
See also Xinhua’s report on the arrest of the Tianmen city chief of the “urban management” forces over this incident.
