Shengyou (AsiaNews/Agencies) - Grieving families of farmers killed in clashes with armed thugs a week ago have bought refrigerators to preserve the victims' bodies until the murderers are brought to justice.

Dressed in white mourning robes and hats, the relatives of six men who died in a dawn skirmish over land, clustered around makeshift altars and tinsel wreaths in village government offices converted into an impromptu funeral home. In a nearby courtyard, they opened a cloth bundle to reveal guns, sharpened poles and a smoke bomb canister taken from their attackers, who were eventually driven off.

"Each family bought a fridge. We want to preserve the bodies because the investigation is not finished and we need to keep the evidence," said Hou Shuhui, whose 56-year-old father Hou Tongshun was killed with a scythe.

Last Saturday's showdown at Shengyou, 220km southwest of Beijing in Hebei, was first reported in the Beijing News. It is rare coverage of a growing number of land rights disputes on the mainland, where the government places an overriding emphasis on the need for social stability.

Protests occur daily - with Communist Party-backed magazine Outlook reporting about 58,000 such cases in 2003 - but news of them is often suppressed, with state-controlled media barred from freely reporting such incidents. Officials have claimed the disputed Shengyou land for a state-owned power plant, but the farmers, who grow wheat and maize, say compensation is inadequate and they have been struggling to retain ownership since 2002.

An official from nearby Dingzhou city - whose former mayor Guo Zhenguang and party secretary He Feng were sacked after news of the violence appeared in national papers - was set on by angry mourners when he arrived to attend the wake.

Grieving family members grabbed the official and shook him. Others shouted abuse. "We hate them more than the Japanese. How would you like to lose your parents, your father or mother?" spat Hou Shuxing, whose father died from a stomach wound in the violent clash. Niu Zihui, son of another victim, said he wanted Beijing to intervene because local officials were involved. "None of us believes in them," he said. "They are inefficient and can't resolve anything."