Wukan unrest spreads to neighbouring village/ENG

DHARAMSHALA, December 19: The ongoing standoff between villagers and Chinese security personnel in Wukan, Guangdong province has sparked similar protests in a neighbouring village.

Over a thousand villagers in Longtou village in the southern Chinese industrial hub of Guangdong, protested against local government authorities, charging them of corruption and illegal land grabs on Tuesday.

The villagers tore down fences surrounding their farmland illegally grabbed by the local authorities and sold to land developers, reported NTD, a New York Chinese broadcaster.

The defiant residents had also brought placards protesting corrupt officials.

Meanwhile, 13,000 villagers of Wukan on Saturday warned of a mass march on government offices in Lufeng, the nearby administrative center, if the local authorities failed to hand over the body of a village leader in the next five days.

Xue Jinbo, 42, was abducted on December 9, on charges of rioting and later died in custody under mysterious circumstances. Although local authorities maintained that the village negotiator died of a heart attack, relatives who were allowed to view his body said it bore signs of abuse, including blood, bruises and a broken thumb.

Since December 14, the village has been under a police blockade but Wukan residents have continued to lead mass protests, including a symbolic funeral with an empty coffin for Jinbo on December 16.

For the last three months, Wukan villagers have been holding repeated large-scale protests against local officials and land grabs. Villagers accuse corrupt local officials of colluding with developers and selling their land to build factories without their consent and without offering compensation.

Unrest in Chinese villages come weeks after China's top security chief Zhou Yongkang warned provincial officials of more unrest in China.

China this year will be spending more on “public security” than the military for the first time. Public security, which covers state surveillance of its people and maintaining China’s paramilitary police, received a boost by nearly 14% to the tune of $95 billion.
By Tendar Tsering