4 Injured in Clash Outside Beijing Apple Store

Hundreds lined up in Beijing Saturday to get their hands on a white iPhone 4 or iPad 2—but eager anticipation bubbled over into violence that injured four, CNN reports. An apparent scalper kept trying to cut into the long line of those waiting to enter the Apple store, witnesses said. As Apple store staff escorted him away, a worker and a relative of the scalper reportedly began shoving each other. The growing conflict prompted staff to lock the store.

The angry crowd swarmed forward and rattled the door until its glass shattered; a hinge dropped onto a guard’s head; two women and two men sustained minor injuries. The store closed for the rest of the day, reopening yesterday to shorter lines. Still, demand for the iPad 2 "has been amazing,” said a rep—enough that scalpers are selling still-wrapped phones, some in Apple bags, to customers “steps away” from the store, CNN notes. (More China stories.)