Five temporary workers with the urban patrol bureau in Cangnan county, Zhejiang province, were injured, two seriously, in a dispute with residents on Saturday, an official said on Sunday.

The five urban patrol officers, or chengguan, were beaten by residents when they did not quickly leave the scene of an earlier dispute, the director of the legal department of the urban patrol bureau of Lingxi township said on Sunday.

The director, who only gave his surname, He, said the five were temporary workers employed to move materials that were blocking streets.

The dispute started at 9 am Saturday at the intersection of Damen and Kangle roads in Lingxi when the chengguan ordered a shop owner to move materials placed along the street, according to a statement from the Cangnan county publicity department.

When a resident surnamed Huang used his cellphone to take pictures of the quarrel between the chengguan and the shop owner, he was asked to stop recording.

Huang was injured during the argument, which attracted lots of onlookers in the area. The chengguan reported the case to police and an ambulance took Huang to a hospital. According to doctors, Huang was slightly injured and in stable condition, the statement said.

The local authority said the matter is still under investigation over whether the chengguan started the fight. A growing crowd of onlookers started to beat the five officers after a rumor was spread online saying chengguan had killed someone, the local publicity department said.

Yan Yiqi in Hangzhou contributed to this story.

jinhaixing@chinadaily.com.cn