After the forced demolition, Chen Yuangang's house. Photo by reporter Pan Zhiwang.
The roof of a resident's house was opened as a skylight. Photo by intern reporter Chen Tianchi.
At 3 PM on the afternoon of the day before yesterday, dozens of burly men drove bulldozers and forcibly entered an old courtyard less than 100 meters east of the North Bridge of Yagezhuang in Fengtai District to demolish houses. Eyewitnesses said that police officer Chen Yuangang who lived there tried to stop the other party from construction and was beaten instead. Fortunately, his injuries were not serious, and he has already resumed work. It is understood that this courtyard originally belonged to the office building of the Yagezhuang Police Station and was allocated to several police officers for residence 20 years ago.
Video: Police housing demolished forcibly; police officer injured while trying to stop construction. Source: Jinghua Video.
Dozens of burly men broke locks and forcibly demolished houses.
Behind the large advertisement board of "Zhongtang Gemini" lies a vast wasteland covered with weeds. Further to the east are already completed commercial residential areas about 20 stories high. Surrounded by wastelands and tall buildings is a courtyard no larger than 600 square meters. It looks dilapidated, but police officer Chen Yuangang from the Xiju Police Station of Fengtai District and several other police officers from Fengtai live here.
"We have been living here for nearly 20 years, watching the Third Ring Road being built, watching surrounding neighborhoods one by one come up, yet we still couldn't move out," said Tian Ming (a pseudonym), in his 40s, looking at the roof that had been demolished by half, with a bitter expression. Tian Ming is also a police officer from the Fengtai Public Security Bureau. It is understood that this courtyard was assigned to nine households, eight of which were either police officers or relatives of police officers, except for one Mr. Qiao.
At 3 PM on the afternoon of the day before yesterday, two dozen burly men drove bulldozers to the front of the courtyard. Only Mr. Qiao and two or three other residents were inside the courtyard. According to Mr. Qiao, he was resting in his room when he suddenly heard the sound of "pitter-patter" on the roof outside. He then rushed out of the room and saw these burly men smashing the locks of the courtyard and the residents' doors. Hearing the commotion, other residents nearby quickly arrived.
According to multiple eyewitnesses, these burly men carried various tools such as iron bars, shovels, and iron rods, and smashed open the locks of the residents' doors in just a few strikes, then kicked the doors open without any warning. "They didn't say a word when asked, they were like bandits," said the eyewitnesses. After rushing into the homes, these burly men directly moved the appliances, furniture, and belongings inside to the empty ground outside the courtyard. Then some people went onto the roofs and used hammers and other tools to demolish them.
Police Officer Injured While Stopping Construction
Mr. Qiao said that he called his family to go out and quickly notified Chen Yuangang, Tian Ming, and others who were not in the courtyard at the time.
According to multiple eyewitnesses, when Chen Yuangang returned home, the windows and glass of his house had already been smashed, and the westmost bungalow in the courtyard had been demolished by half by the burly men using bulldozers and other tools, with half of the roof collapsed. Tian Ming introduced that this bungalow belonged to a retired senior cadre, but because the senior cadre did not reside here long-term, there was no one inside, so the demolishers planned to flatten this house first.
Eyewitnesses said that upon seeing this situation, Chen Yuangang immediately walked to the unoccupied house, sat on the windowsill, and faced the bulldozer in an attempt to prevent the forced demolition. At the sight of this, five or six burly men rushed over, grabbed Chen Yuangang by the neck, dragged him down, and pulled him about five meters away to the wasteland outside the courtyard. During this time, someone punched and kicked Chen Yuangang.
Eyewitnesses also indicated that Chen Yuangang was still wearing his police uniform at the time. In this process, Chen Yuangang's hands were twisted behind his back, head down, "just like how police escort prisoners." "We really couldn't bear to see it," said eyewitness Liu Gang (a pseudonym), indicating that at the time he shouted, "You're too arrogant, you even dare to beat a policeman," Mr. Qiao and other eyewitnesses all gathered around, and the attackers only stopped their hands but continued to hold Chen Yuangang, preventing him from moving.
After someone dialed 110 to report the incident, the Fengtai police quickly arrived at the scene. Everyone said that the police took the residents of the courtyard and eyewitnesses to the police station for questioning until the early hours of yesterday morning.
It is claimed that Chen Yuangang's left leg and left hand were injured, with bloodstains, and there were also marks on his neck. He stated that he was injured by those implementing the forced demolition. His wife introduced that afterward, he was sent to Beijing Electric Power Hospital for treatment.
The Involved Police Officer Resumed Work Yesterday
At noon yesterday, reporters rushed to the scene of the incident. By this time, the bulldozers and demolition company personnel had all withdrawn, but almost all the locks of the residents' doors had been smashed, and the window glasses had been knocked out, leaving only empty frames. The westernmost bungalow was collapsed by half, with a mess inside. Tian Ming's roof was also torn open; and the western wall of Mr. Qiao's house clearly showed a large hole, with brick fragments scattered everywhere.
Mr. Qiao said that his family had three or four people living here, now with the house damaged, they needed to hire someone to come and repair it, "otherwise we have nowhere to live." At 2 PM yesterday, several workers brought cement, wood, and other materials to start repairing the roof that had been smashed.
Yesterday afternoon, reporters contacted the involved police officer Chen Yuangang, who said that everything needed to be answered by the leader. However, relevant responsible persons from the Xiju Police Station indicated that Chen Yuangang had already resumed work, and interviews with police officers required the approval of the bureau's publicity department.
Yesterday, reporters visited the office building of a certain real estate company responsible for the demolition of this plot. A duty staff member said that this plot was jointly developed by them and a developer, but regarding the matter of the police officer being beaten, she could not answer. She also said that even after starting work next Monday, it was uncertain whether anyone in the company would be able to answer questions on this aspect.
According to the name of the developer provided by the residents, reporters only found that the headquarters of this real estate development company was located in Daxing, but could not find the company's contact number or website.
Disputes Over Demolition
Residents Reflect That Developers Mainly Negotiate With Leaders
According to Tian Ming and other police officers within the courtyard, in the 1990s, due to the need for the construction of the Third Ring Road nearby and other reasons, the Yagezhuang Police Station relocated from this location to near the Fengtai Stadium. Around 1990, these originally office-used bungalows were distributed to nine police officers. Later, when the unit organized welfare housing distribution and other measures, because they already had these bungalows, they were never considered by the unit. They had also applied to the unit, wanting to return the house and then apply for relevant policy housing, but it was not approved. He said that the unit once stated that these bungalows were considered housing allocated by the unit, impossible to exchange, and if they wanted to move to a new house, they could only wait for demolition and exchange houses.
Since the demolition of this area started, the developers had not negotiated face-to-face with them, the police officers, many times. Most of the time, the developers were negotiating with the unit leaders, "for example, I am from which station, the developer will find the station leader."
Last year, in the limited exchanges with the developers and demolition parties, the police officers had proposed to exchange for a two-bedroom apartment of sixty to seventy square meters, but never made unreasonable demands such as adding millions of yuan, but the other side disagreed, "at first, they still said if we wanted a house, it could be given, but only forty square meters, and the excess part would be sold to us at a price of 7500 yuan per square meter, but later even this was not discussed." Tian Ming and others expressed that the other side only agreed to provide a one-bedroom apartment of about forty square meters, and the houses provided by the developer were not near Yagezhuang, and were not ready-made houses, taking two or three years to build.
Fengtai Branch: The House Being Demolished Belongs to Lugouqiao Township
The Fengtai police last night stated that the ownership of No. 397 courtyard in the ninth block of Yagezhuang where Chen Yuangang lived belonged to the Yagezhuang Brigade of Lugouqiao Township. They would strive to resolve the issue of the police vacating the house and subsequent settlement as soon as possible.
The Fengtai police confirmed that during the demolition process of No. 397 courtyard in the ninth block of Yagezhuang by Lugouqiao Township, Yagezhuang Brigade, and Beijing Jingda Kunlun Real Estate Development Co., Ltd., police officer Chen Yuangang who lived in this courtyard got into an argument with the demolition personnel because he stopped the demolition.
The police introduced that in the 1970s, the Yagezhuang Brigade temporarily lent more than 200 square meters of nine bungalows to the Yagezhuang Police Station for use. After the police station moved to a new location in 1990, the police negotiated with the Yagezhuang Brigade, and these nine houses were rented out and allocated to divisional housing-difficult police officers for use.
This year, according to the municipal government's approval, Lugouqiao Township developed No. 397 courtyard and the surrounding areas as state-owned construction land and formally notified the division and the homeowner Chen Yuangang through official letters.
The police stated that based on Chen Yuangang's situation, Jingda Kunlun Real Estate Development Co., Ltd. had negotiated with him multiple times but failed to reach an agreement. They indicated that after the incident on August 6, the Fengtai Branch was communicating with relevant departments of Lugouqiao Township to strive for resolving the issues of the police vacating the house and subsequent settlement as soon as possible.
An informed person revealed that the developer had been recording videos since the beginning of the house vacating, and the video showed no beating incidents during the vacating.
All articles in this edition were written by reporters Peng Kefeng and Yu Jie.
Comment: If even the police get forcibly demolished, what should ordinary citizens do?
The police housing was forcibly demolished; the police officer was injured while stopping the construction. Source: Jinghua Video. Play video