Furious, people gathered quickly, surrounding a vehicle used by urban patrol officers, or chengguan, and attacking it with sticks, bricks and other objects. They even overturned an ambulance that came to offer medical aid to the injured.

This violent incident occurred after a clash between the chengguan officers and a vendor in Lingxi town, Cangnan county, Zhejiang province on Saturday.

It is the latest bloody conflict between the public and chengguan officers triggered by public outrage over the behavior of these quasi-police officers, a group that is widely viewed as being offensive in their enforcement of the laws.

According to media reports, the incident began when several chengguan officers demanded a street vendor stop selling gas stoves and other items, which they said were blocking the sidewalk. A resident, surnamed Huang, happened to be passing and began taking photos with his cellphone and then a clash arose when he declined to hand over his phone as demanded. Huang was punched to the ground and then kicked for more than a minute until he vomited blood, a Southern Metropolis Daily report cited eyewitnesses as saying. More people gathered, and angry onlookers surrounded the chengguan officers' van, bursting its tires and smashing its windows with bricks. According to an account posted by the local government on its official micro blog, the escalation of the incident was triggered by rumors on social media that the chengguan officers had beaten a man to death.

It is hoped that further investigations will be conducted to mete out deserved punishments to any lawbreakers, no matter whether they are chengguan officers who beat the passer-by or those who participated in the beating of chengguan officers and the vandalizing of their vehicle. However, the incident should also provoke reflection.

It is not uncommon for clashes to break out between chengguan officers and unlicensed street vendors and even between chengguan officers and passers-by who take photos of their law enforcement efforts. The latest incident follows media reports earlier this month that chengguan officers in Fuzhou, in Fujian province, beat an old man to death, an episode that triggered national outrage online. In 2008, a passer-by in Tianmen, central Hubei province, was beaten to death after he took photos of a clash between chengguan officers and a peddler, which also fueled nationwide anger.