Police in China have arrested two people suspected of despoiling the national flag and other symbols of the ruling Communist Party with ink-filled eggs, Chinese media reported on Tuesday.
Over 100 policemen were dispatched to find the suspected culprits after four flags at a cemetery for communist martyrs in southwest China's Chongqing city were last month splattered with ink, the Chongqing Times said.
"This is a case that has harmed the image of the party and the nation and has sought to damage our democratic legal system," lead investigator Wang Lijun was quoted as saying.
Chongqing's top communist official, Bo Xilai, ordered the huge manhunt, the report said. Bo is a rising political star and son of the late revolutionary and military leader Bo Yibo.
Police investigated 873 suspects over 10 days before issuing arrest warrants for two people identified as Zhang Jingzhi and Wen Tingyu, according to the paper, giving no further details about the suspects.
The two have been accused of tossing eggs filled with ink at four flags, a national one and others representing organs of the Communist Party, it said.
Zhang and Wen have officially been charged with "insulting the national flag" and each face up to three years in prison, according to the report.
{{/usCountry}}Zhang and Wen have officially been charged with "insulting the national flag" and each face up to three years in prison, according to the report.
{{/usCountry}}It is not the first time ink-filled eggs have been used to protest communist rule.
In 1989, three men were sentenced to jail terms of at least 16 years each after throwing eggs filled with ink at the portrait of revolutionary leader Mao Zedong on Beijing's Tiananmen Square during democracy protests there that year.