Four people injured in iPad 2 rush at Apple Store

FOUR people taken to hospital and glass doors smashed during a riot at Beijing's top Apple Store during stampede to buy iPad 2.

Ipad 2 riot

FOUR people were taken to hospital and glass doors smashed as a near-riot broke out at Beijing's top Apple Store among crowds rushing to snap up the iPad 2.

Angry shoppers began rushing the store after a "foreign" Apple employee allegedly stepped into the crowd to push and beat people suspected of queue jumping, the Beijing News said.

After the employee retreated back into the store, a crowd smashed the glass front door and shoved security guards as they surged forward, the report said.

Shoppers have lined up for hours at Apple stores in Beijing and Shanghai since the iPad 2 went on sale in the world's biggest internet market on Friday.

The store in Beijing's chic Sanlitun commercial district closed early yesterday because of the altercation, but according to a voice recording on the store's phone was open for business today.

Apple officials were not immediately available for comment.

Police were investigating the incident and had interviewed four people treated in hospital, the Beijing News said.

Lines for the popular iPad 2 have grown so long that people have begun selling their places in the queue, while a secondary market has also developed with consumers reselling their tablet computers for profit after leaving the store, the report said.