Outrage has sparked in China following the killing of 41-year-old construction company executive Wei Wenhua while trying to film a confrontation with the city inspectors. He owned a website/blog where additional columnists wrote articles. Others expressing outrage and alarm include thousands participating on Internet chat rooms, advocates of press freedom, and villagers.

The confrontation started near the central Chinese province of Hubei between city inspectors and villagers, who were protesting over the dumping of waste near their homes. Fifty municipal inspectors later turned on him when he attempted to record the protest using his cell phone.

CNN reports that the chief of the urban administration bureau in the city of Tianmen lost his job over the incident. Twenty-four other municipal inspectors are being detained and more than 100 others are being investigated for connection with the death.

While this has not been the first incident involving the urban administrators and is “the first ‘citizen journalist’ to die in China because of what he was trying to film”, according to a protest by Reporters Without Borders, an international press freedom group. China condones may forms of public views of freedom, such as blogging and online networking.

[via TechCrunch]

[Image Credit: AP Photo/CNN]