What one pet seller did to escape from the evil clutches of the city cops

If you've been in China for a while, you will more likely than not have been a witness to the frequent scuffles between street sellers, store owners and the guys from the city cops, or the 城管, who are technically not "police" but rather "city administration" and "street management" guys. Most illegal street sellers and hawkers like your DVD salesmen and lamb kebab guys will typically just pack up their stuff and make a quick disappearance, and then come back as soon as the annoying city cops are gone. It's just part of the cat and mouse game that they have to get used to if they want to make a living, but what did one Beijing pet seller do to "escape" from them? A Youku mo-blogger tells us [Translation by Shanghaiist]:

商贩刘女士说，上午11点左右，她和丈夫在安安市场附近的地下通道出口处卖小动物。这时，一辆金杯车驶到路边，车里下来一名城管队员和四五名协管人员。 Street seller Mrs Liu says that around she and her husband were selling their little pets at the underground subway near An An Market at 11am, when suddenly a Jinbei car pulled up by the roadside and out popped a city cop with four or five assistants.

城管要带走小动物，刘女士不让，“我爱人急了，开始摔小动物，一边摔一边说宁可摔死也不给他们”。一名目击者说，他经过此地时，看到地上就剩两只小狗还奄奄一息，其它的小动物都死了。
The city cops wanted to bring away the animals, but Mrs Liu just would not have it. "My husband started panicking and started smashing the animals on the ground, saying that he would rather do this than give them to the city cops." An eye-witness said that as he was passing by he saw many animals all dead on the ground, and only two dogs were barely struggling to stay alive.

记者在现场看到，被摔死的小动物有10多只，包括小兔子、小狗、乌龟等，还有一只小动物被车轧扁。“小动物是无罪的！”现场围观的10多人认为摔死小动物的行为太残忍。
This reporter saw on-site that about a dozen animals had been smashed to death against the ground, including rabbits, dogs, terrapins. One was completely flattened by the vehicle. "The animals are innocent!" Even the dozen or so people that had gathered by now agreed that smashing the animals against the ground was too cruel.

一名在现场执法的太平桥城管分队队员说，刘女士夫妇在此卖小动物两三年了，对这种无照经营的游商，城管一般会罚款500到5000元，并没收所售商品。对于商贩以摔死小动物抗法，城管队员也吃了一惊，“执法这么多年，第一次碰到用这么残忍的方式抗法的”。
A city administrator from the Taiping Bridge team said that Mr and Mrs Liu had been selling their animals for about 3 years now. Normally, city cops would fine illegal sellers such as tese anywhere between RMB500 and RMB5000, and confiscate all goods. When they started smashing their animals against the ground, the city cops themselves were startled. "We've been doing this for so many years, this is the first time we've seen someone reacting in such a cruel manner!"

“这是在城管执法过程中产生的悲剧，10多只小动物惨死闹市实在不应该。”中国小动物保护协会会长卢荻获悉此事后向太平桥城管分队提议，在商贩伤害小动物时，城管队员应当予以制止，避免悲剧的发生。
"This is a sad episode for the city administration. A dozen animals have died unnecessarily," said Lu Huohuo, Chairperson of the China Animal Protection Association, who suggested to the Taiping City Administration team that they should have stepped in to stop the sellers when they began to smash their animals against the ground to stop the sad event from happening.