Beaten to Death by China’s City Inspectors

“’Five minutes of darkness,’ in the words of columnist Xiong Peiyun (熊培云). That was all it took for the “urban management officers” (城管) of Hubei’s Tianmen City (天门市) to tragically end the life of Wei Wenhua (魏文华), the general manager of a local architectural engineering firm who dared to step out of his car and document a violent attempt to bring local villagers to heel.” Chinese Media Project

“A man who used his mobile phone to film a violent clash between villagers and officials in rural China was beaten to death by public order “enforcers”, Chinese state media reported yesterday, bringing more unwanted attention to the country’s unruly hinterlands.” Guardian Unlimited

“Wei Wenhua was a model communist and is now a bloggers hero — a “citizen journalist” turned martyr.” CNN

How does a society become such that humans fail to recognize other humans, and are willing to beat them to death with their bare hands? Does the fear of being caught in an act of aggression really inspire such a barbaric eruption of violence? Or is it just a continuation of pumping adrenaline that peaks? How does a group of people go from beating another group of people, to zoning in on one loner?

Who is to blame for such a random occurrence? These city inspectors, do they really believe that they have the right to take another person’s life? Is it the system that grants these people with such high and mighty ethics? Or is it these individuals?