Cyclist's death ends in siege of police

Source: Xinhua  |   2008-11-9  |     NEWSPAPER EDITION

A SIEGE of a traffic police station in Shenzhen by angry family and residents after the death of a motorcyclist ended in the early hours of yesterday morning.

A police car was set on fire, the police station was stoned and fireworks were set off during the siege which started at around 1pm on Friday and ended at 2am yesterday.

The siege was mounted following the death of Li Guochao, 31, who lost control of his bike and crashed into a lamp post after avoiding a licensed vehicle check.

Li and his pillion passenger were stopped at a check station set up along Baoshi East Road. When the passenger got off, Li revved up the bike and drove past the checkpoint.

He turned at a crossroad and drove back on the other side of the road. However a check station worker surnamed Lai from Shiyan sub-district office jumped the guard-rail in the middle of the road and tried to stop Li.

When he was ignored, Lai threw his phone at Li, who lost control of the bike, crashed into a lamp-post and was seriously injured. He was rushed to a nearby hospital for treatment but died at about 12:30pm.

Li's relatives thought the vehicle check had been organized by the Shiyan traffic police station and gathered more than 30 people to barricade the gate. They carried his body to the station and by 5pm, more than 400 people had amassed outside the station and more than 2,000 watched from nearby.

The siege was resolved with restraint, according to the city's public security bureau and Lai, working with the Shiyan sub-district office has been detained by police.