Local sources blame police. Local government officials say clashes were between farmers and construction company employees. Hundreds take the body to local government building, demanding justice. More clashes with police take place in the evening.

Beijing (AsiaNews/Agencies) – Hundreds of villagers laid siege on Tuesday to a government building in Liling (Hunan), after a fellow villager was allegedly killed in protest over a land dispute. In the resulting clashes with police at least 20 people were injured.

According to the Hong Kong-based Information Centre for Human Rights and Democracy, local farmers and developers came to blows over land the latter wanted to take from the former.

Matters erupted into violence when 300 people from Hexi village protesting against a development project came to blows with more than 100 police and armed police.

One villager, 58-year-old Zhong Peihua, was killed and six others suffered severe injuries as a result of the fighting.

Government sources said that employees of the construction company were involved in the clashes, not police.

Zhong’s body was taken to the local government building (photo published on http://suomenkuvalehti.fi, which says a protester took it). Protesters blocked nearby streets, trying to force their way into the building through the police barrier. Bringing a body to a public building is a traditional way of demanding justice.

The local Communist Party chief Xie Qingchun has pledged a swift inquiry.

Initial reports suggest the victim died of a heart attack.

Last year about 87,000 economically motivated incidents of mass protest were recorded in China.

• china
• clashes
• police
• farmers
• xie
• qinghun
• liling
• zhong
• peihua
• hexi
• village
• protests
• government
• building