Road rage sparks riot in China

Thousands of people fought with police in a town in eastern China after a traffic dispute grew into a riot, overturning and burning cars, smashing windows at a police station and looting a supermarket.

There were no deaths but six police officers were injured.

The violence erupted after four car passengers beat up a pedestrian following an accident in Chizhou, a town in Anhui province, the official Xinhua News Agency reported.

Police took the four passengers for questioning, but crowds surrounded the building, demanding officers hand over the four people, Xinhua said.

The protest escalated, with thousands of people overturning cars and setting them on fire, smashing the windows of the station and looting a supermarket.

The reports said thousands of people took part in the violence, but didn’t give details about the number.

Rioters cut off power to the police building and threw firecrackers inside.

Late in the evening, about 700 police finally succeeded in dispersing the 2,000 remaining protesters.

There was no information about the number of injured civilians.

About 10 people were detained, while the four people involved in the beating of the pedestrian were still in custody.