Riot Erupts in Guiyang After Migrant Is Beaten

July 31, 2006

Hundreds of citizens rioted in Guiyang city, Guizhou province, after a migrant worker lacking a temporary residence permit was beaten on July 10, according to a July 13 Guizhou Metropolitan Daily (GMD) article reprinted on the Xinhua Web site, and an Associated Press article posted on the Washington Post Web site based on the same GMD report.

Hundreds of citizens rioted in Guiyang city, Guizhou province, after a migrant worker lacking a temporary residence permit was beaten on July 10, according to a July 13 Guizhou Metropolitan Daily (GMD) article reprinted on the Xinhua Web site, and an Associated Press article posted on the Washington Post Web site based on the same GMD report.

The incident started as civilian members of a police auxiliary force were stopping migrant workers in a Guiyang public park on July 10, checking identity papers, and demanding that migrants obtain a temporary residence permit if they lacked one. One such migrant, identified only as Mr. Guo, had no temporary residence permit and refused to pay the fees to purchase one, arguing that he had just arrived in Guiyang on that day. Guo was later found beaten and bleeding, although the reports do not indicate who beat him. Police summoned to the scene attempted to send Guo to the hospital, and demanded that Guo's relatives and the civilian security personnel accompany them to a police station for questioning. In the ensuing chaos, several hundred people destroyed police vehicles, taxis, and cars belonging to reporters.

Temporary residence permits are a component of the Chinese government's household registration (hukou) system. The system restricts citizens' freedom of residence and also has been the subject of citizen complaints about official corruption. Article 7 of the Guiyang Municipal Measures on Managing the Temporary Resident Population requires that migrant workers who leave their permanent place of hukou registration to work in Guiyang for a period of more than three days and less than a month must register with public security officials. Those who seek to work in Guiyang for more than one month must apply to public security officials for a temporary residence permit. Under Article 21(5), migrants who refuse to register after being notified by public security officials are to receive "criticism," while those who refuse to apply for a temporary residence permit are to be fined 50 yuan (about US$6). Chinese citizens have complained about local public security officials extorting additional fees from them while processing their temporary residence permits, according to a January 18 Southern Daily article.

For more information on the Chinese hukou system, see the Commission's topic paper on the subject, the Commission's 2004 and 2005 Annual Reports, and the Commission's roundtable on hukou reform.