It all started with a lady crossing the road in Wanzhou, Chongqing and being hit with a pole carried by a delivery man. When the pole carrier refused to apologise, the lady slapped him. Then her husband joined in and that's when things got really bad. The husband pretended he was a Government official, seized the pole and beat the carrier. That turned into a brawl, which drew a crowd. The cops came and carted the 3 away. But the crowd wouldn't budge, accusing the police of bullying and abusing their powers. By the night the crowd had grown to 20,000, police were attacked and cars torched. The leadership order a clampdown, arrests were made and the crowd dispersed.

It was an interesting explosion in anger by the populace against the police and by extension the ruling party. What's even more interesting is that news got out about the riot. The incident was reported in the Chinese press, but with the number of rioters placed at "a few hundred" and with the incident downplayed. So much so that I cannot find a link to it on Xinhua's or People Daily's sites (admittedly they basically are the same thing). But Reuters and the SCMP both have the story. A slip in the net?