2 China Wal-Mart workers arrested after death

BEIJING — Two employees of a Wal-Mart store in eastern China were arrested after a woman was beaten outside the store on suspicion of being a shoplifter and died, a state-owned newspaper reported Tuesday.

The China Daily said Yu Xiaochun died 500 yards (meters) from the store in Jingdezhen, Jiangxi province.

Local police said in a notice posted on their Web site that the 37-year old Yu was going home Aug. 30 when she was surrounded by five Wal-Mart employees — four men and one woman, all in their 20s — who accused her of shoplifting.

The police report said one of the men requested a receipt. But after Yu handed it over, she took it back, saying no one was wearing a Wal-Mart uniform and she didn’t believe they worked there.

The report said they fought and Yu fell to the ground and was taken to a hospital, where she died Sept. 2.

A spokeswoman for Wal-Mart in China, Vivi Mou, said in an e-mailed statement to The Associated Press that “an incident occurred” between two security associates and a female visitor on Aug. 30, but the cause of death is still being investigated.

The company is cooperating with authorities and extends its condolences to the woman’s family, the statement said.

Two employees, a man surnamed Liu and a man surnamed Yu, were detained, the police statement said. It did not give details about the other three.

The city police headquarters referred questions to the district police station, which referred them to the criminal department, where no one answered the phone.