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Riot police charged crowds of demonstrating drivers in southwest China, beating and arresting more than 70 people, a human-rights group said Sunday.
Large protests erupted Thursday over new rules banning three-wheeled vehicles from downtown Zigong, a depressed industrial center in Sichuan province, the New York-based Human Rights in China said. A government spokesman denied protests occurred and said no one was arrested or beaten.
The motorized vehicles are used to haul passengers and goods for money. Many are driven by laid-off workers, and the city’s decision to ban the vehicles threatened their meager livelihoods, the group said.
