["Big Riot in Pizhou City, Jiangsu, With Over 1,000 People Storming the Office of the City Party Committee, Results in 50 Casualties"]

Our centre has learned that a big riot had recently broken out in Pizhou city, Jiangsu province, over land requisition. On 7 January, about 1,000 citizens of Pizhou staged a demonstration over the suspected killing of one of the villagers of Hewan village, Yunhe town, by 100 thugs hired by the secretary of the Yunhe town party committee. Carrying the corpse, they stormed the city party committee. Over 200 special police tried to snatch the corpse from them. The clash resulted in bloodshed and 50 casualties.

We have learned that the secretary of the Yunhe town party committee, Lou Cunrui, had been trying hard to force local villagers to sell 300 mu of land in Hewan village to Xuzhou Haitian Petrochemical Co for 20 million yuan, but the villagers refused. On the afternoon of 7 January, over 100 thugs killed a villager by the name of Li Donggong, who was planning to get married in two weeks, in Hewan village. Another villager, Li Weinan, was almost beaten to death. The incident aroused the indignation of the townsmen of Yunhe. On the morning of 8 January, over 1,000 banner-hoisting villagers paraded in the city centre. At nightfall, they carried the corpse to storm the office of the city party committee, demanding the resignation of city party secretary Li Lianyu. The crowd clashed with 200 special police dispatched from Xuzhou. The special police snatched the corpse away, and 50 villagers sustained injuries in the brawl. Some of the wounded are still staying at Pizhou City People's Hospital. The authorities have not only imposed a news blackout but called in hundreds of special police to block the main roads to prevent another demonstration. The Railway Second Division Hospital (Second Division of Zhongte Second Bureau) confirmed to us that Li Dongdong was dead on arrival while Li Weinan had been transferred to another hospital.

Li Lianyu's decision to sell land for economic development raised a great controversy. On 24 October 2007, the authorities organized thousands of people to welcome him on both sides of the streets on his return to the city after attending the 17th Party Congress. This led to heated discussion and criticism by netizens across the nation and he became a celebrity. However, he insisted that the welcoming crowd were doing so spontaneously and of their own free will.

Source: Information Centre for Human Rights and Democracy, Hong Kong, in Chinese 12 Jan 10