A clash has erupted between petitioners and local police in Chengdu after Chief Magistrate of Chengdu Intermediate People’s Court Niu Ming refused to see petitioners on a designated reception day after the Olympics.
Over 200 petitioners who went to the Court to appeal became angry with the Chief Magistrate’s failure to see them, and a confrontation broke out with police and city management staff. Protestors blocked arterial roads and military police and traffic control were called in to maintain order. A number of petitioners were injured and hospitalised while others received anonymous threats, Radio Free Asia reports.

Civil unrests are becoming ever more frequent around China as petitioners, many of whom have lost their homes or jobs are becoming fed up with the inability or unwillingness of local communist officials to address their plight.