A guy named Hou was sentenced by the Hedong district court of Tianjin for a prison term of six months on account of resistance to environmental legal enforcement. This was the first legal case involving violent resistance to environmental legal enforcement.
The environmental protection administration of the district got calls at 2:20 hours on the morning of July 16 complaining the noises from the work site of Datong Garden villas at night. The administration sent three legal enforcement personnel to investigate the case at the scene. When the three finished the study and asked Hou to sign the report, Hou refused. He turned off the lights and flung blows to them.
The district police came to the scene and investigated the case. Hou, guilty of obstruction of the performance of public duty, was detained on July 16 and arrested on July 30.
(www.cenews.com.cn December 17, 2002)