Three urban management officers in central Henan Province were injured on Tuesday by a mob of more than 30 coaches and students from a kung fu school in Tanghe County, Henan Business Daily reported yesterday.

The three were among a dozen officers who came in three vehicles to remove tables, chairs and billboards illegally put out on a pedestrian street by a vendor.

The female vendor shouted abuse at the officers and called her brother, the headmaster of the Tanghe Shaolin Juvenile Kung Fu School, for help when the urban management officers demanded her to clear away her tables and billboards on the street.

Led by two coaches, more than 30 kung fu students, brandishing broadswords and other weapons, arrived at the scene. The officers tried to calm down the crowd, but Peng Jianjun, the headmaster, ordered the students to surround and attack the officers.

Although the officers' vehicles were damaged, local doctors said the three officers suffered only minor wounds in the fight.

Zhao Xinpo, the director of Tanghe County's Urban Management Bureau, said Peng and the two coaches had been arrested for investigation and may face mayhem charges.

(Shanghai Daily May 9, 2009)