BEIJING, China – A wave of protest from outraged Chinese bloggers has forced authorities to arrest four people, detain and remove several government officials, and investigate over 100 others for the beating death of a bystander.

Wei Wenhua, a construction company manager, witnessed about 50 city inspectors beating villagers who tried to block trucks from unloading heaps of garbage near their homes in Tianmen in Hubei Province.

Mr. Wei, 41, was attacked and fatally beaten by the city inspectors when he took out his cellphone to photograph the dispute. In China, city inspectors are auxiliary support for police, dealing mostly with petty crimes. These inspectors, however, often abuse their authority and prey on the weak.

Mr. Wei’s death earlier this month continues to stir controversy among bloggers in China and elsewhere. On Sina.com, bloggers responded by condemning the brutal killing and questioning ” who gave these city inspectors such absurd powers?”

This is the latest story of bloggers and others using the Internet to force Chinese authorities to investigate beatings and other abuses by government officials.

Another blogger expressed that this is definitely not the first time for something like this. “What makes it news is that this time they got one man dead, the news got online, and the whole nation got informed. So they got serious.”

For more information, please see:

The New York Times – Bloggers Push China to Prosecute Beating Death – 18 January 2008

CNN – Man beaten to death in China for taking pictures – 16 January 2008

CNN – Death pits technology against Chinese control – 18 January 2008