State-run media in China are reporting that 12 members of law enforcement were injured in a clash with pyramid schemers.
The Xinhua news agency says that a pyramid-inspired uprising began in China’s Anhui Province and that 34 members of the scheme were detained for assault and five were arrested.
From the news agency (italics added):
On Saturday, police in the provincial capital city of Hefei arrested five suspects, who led nearly 300 members of the pyramid selling group to attack the law enforcement officers. The officers were investigating the pyramid scheme at a local residential complex, according to the city’s public security department.
The pyramid scheme members blocked the gate of the complex and stopped residents from getting in or out.
The PP Blog cannot independently confirm the report.
See 2010 editorial cartoon from Chinese media and accompanying story on violence reportedly flowing from a pyramid scheme. (The cartoon is exceptionally memorable. As the PP Blog reported in July 2010 (italics added)):
A cartoon that accompanies the agency’s story on China’s pyramid plague depicts a man tugging mightily on a rope to help victims scale a cliff to flee from a pyramid schemer holding up a box of worthless products in a valley of pending misery below. A woman is assisting the man, pulling with all her might to help a victim escape the huckster. One woman is clinging to a fellow victim’s shirt as she, too, seeks to flee.
The cartoon depicts the valley pitchman standing in front of a blackboard. One man enthralled by the pitchman’s virtuoso performance is holding a wad of cash and reaching toward both the pitchman and the sky. Meanwhile, a woman who may be a doubter appears to be trying to keep her purse secure as she processes information and strains to get a closer look at details. In the deep background of the cartoon, one of the pitchfest attendees is shown with a dumbfounded look on his face — as though he is trying to process too much information from conflicting images in the incongruous scene.