Beijing (AsiaNews/Agencies) – Hundreds of residents of Puqi village (Zhejiang) clashed with police on 1 January, after the latter tried to stop them from protesting for the suspicious death of Qian Yunhui, who led a local fight against a land grab by the authorities. Instead of investigating the activist’s death, authorities in Yueqing (Zhejiang) told local residents to stop "spreading rumours" about his death, under pain of severe punishment.
Qian was village chief in Zhaiqiao. He was killed in a road accident when a lorry hit him; a man without a licence was behind the wheel.
Residents tried to stop police from taking away the body, demanding instead they open an investigation. Police responded by sending in hundreds of officers to disperse the crowd by force. Qian’s daughter, younger brother and other relatives were arrested.
The Nanfang Daily and Oriental Morning Post quoted witnesses who said they saw three masked men place Qian’s body in front of the lorry that decapitated him.
For the authorities, his death is attributable to an ordinary traffic accident. However, the single CCTV camera that could have filmed the incident was out of service for “technical reasons” at the time.
Pengmomo, a well-known activist who went to Yueqing to carry out his own investigation into Qian Yunhui’s death, said that no one now dares speak about the matter. Anyone trying privately to find out what happened is hitting a wall of silence.
Qian led a fight to defend the rights of local farmers against the seizure of their land. For his trouble, he spent three and half of the past five years behind bars.
His death has also generated a great deal online chat. Some online activists, including columnist Wang Xiaoshan and Liu Shasha, were detained for questioning on the matter by local police but were later released.