A screenshot showing an urban patrol officer smashing up the vendor's stall with a hammer in Yongzhou, central China's Hunan province. [File photo: the paper.cn]

Two urban patrol officers, known as Chengguan, have been removed from their posts after reportedly restraining a street vendor and using a hammer to smash up his stall, reports thepaper.

The local authority of Yongzhou's Lingling District, in central China's Hunan Province, announced the decision on Tuesday in a statement issued on its official WeChat account. The authority said the leader of local Chengguan team had also been called in to discuss the incident.

Videos shared by netizens show one of the Chengguan restraining the vendor, who was selling fried food, while the other smashed his stall a total of 10 times with a hammer. As a result of the violent incident food was scattered across the street, and the vendor's pedicab was reportedly damaged.

According to an official statement, the vendor had returned to the scene after having been told to move on. The vendor had refused to cooperate with the Chengguan as they tried to confiscate his possessions. The statement stressed that such illegal stalls seriously affected traffic.

Author： 　　　Source：CRI　　　 Editor：Yang Fan