Rioters in the western Chinese region of Chongqing burned police cars and looted government buildings after a quarrel between residents escalated into a riot involving thousands, residents and officials said. The angry crowds gathered on Monday night during a quarrel between fruit market workers and a delivery boy, after one worker passed himself off as an official and threatened to use his rank to resolve the dispute in his favour, state media said. That caused bystanders, angry at the attempted abuse of privilege, to become involved in the dispute. Residents said crowds grew to more than 20,000 after cars and buses passing through the area stopped to watch. An official news report posted on the Wanzhou government's Web site said five were detained for burning and overturning police cars and stealing a computer from a local government building. It did not say what caused the disturbance. A Wanzhou official said more than 10 had been detained. "I heard some protesters burned police vehicles and police fired tear gas," said a hotel employee at the Changcheng Chang Hotel in Wanzhou district near the riot scene.
