A 19-year-old foreign woman appeared in court for a public hearing on Wednesday charged with interfering with social order.

The woman, from Uzbekistan but carrying a Polish passport, is accused of injuring three policemen in a drunken brawl, local newspaper Information Times reported yesterday.

According to the newspaper report, the woman took a taxi home to a residential area from a downtown Russian restaurant in the early hours of December 21 last year.

She quarrelled with the taxi driver on arrival over the fare, prompting her to kick the cab.

Her boyfriend, a Chinese man surnamed Ma, came down to settle the argument. He offered the driver 300 yuan (US$37.5) compensation for the damage, but the driver demanded 1,000 yuan (US$125).

Police arrived on the scene, but the woman used her mobile phone battery charger to attack them. One was injured and had to be hospitalized. The woman was then arrested.

The defendant admitted in court that she attacked police and damaged the cab.

However, her lawyer argued that the punishment should be lenient as the woman was drunk when the incident took place.

Officials from Guangzhou Intermediate People's Court would not give any more details on the case.

However, a spokesman of the court said both foreign and local residents should abide by Chinese laws.

(China Daily July 14, 2006)