Cigarette vendor gets tear gassed

By Sun Xiaobo Source:Global Times Published: 2012-11-6 23:40:05

Local police in Wuhua district of Kunming, Southwest China's Yunnan Province, are investigating a police officer, after several shopkeepers complained he used tear gas to mediate a conflict, the Kunming-based City Times reported Tuesday.

The conflict, between two tourists from Shandong Province and a shopkeeper on Jingxing street, was over the purchase of a carton of cigarettes on Monday. The male tourist had smoked a cigarette from an already open pack and the shopkeeper assumed she had made a sale of a carton of cigarettes for 50 yuan ($8).

The deal went awry when the man recalled that a friend had bought the same brand cigarette for only 20 yuan a carton. "The shopkeeper then started to curse my girlfriend and I called police."

The police officer surnamed Wei arrived with another officer, and their mediation efforts failed. The man said the shopkeeper tried to beat the couple but was stopped by the officer surnamed Wei, who was scratched on the neck.

"I warned them to calm down or I would take further measures, but none of them listened and 20 more people from nearby shops surrounded us," the officer said, adding that he used tear gas for fear that a big gathering would make the scene worse.

"Tear gas, like pepper spray, will make people burst into tears and have a running nose, but it won't cause health problems," an anonymous officer from the Huguo police station, which handled the case, told the Global Times.

"The police are allowed to use tear gas for self-defense when they think they might get hurt. I think in this case what the officer did was appropriate," a police officer surnamed Ji from Sichuan Province told the Global Times.

A 1996 regulation stipulates that police are allowed to use tear gas when someone attempts to attack them or poses danger to the safety of others.



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