BEIJING, China (PNN) - December 12, 2011 - For months, the 20,000 villagers who live in Wukan, near Shanwei city in Guangdong province, have protested first at having nearly £100 million of their land seized and sold off by the local government, and then at the brutal tactics used by pig thug cops to regain control of the village.
The latest protests began on Sunday, when pig thug cops attempting to arrest a villager were repelled by villagers armed with sticks. The pig thug cops fired tear gas before retreating.
At the same time, the local government brought the village's simmering anger to a boil by admitting that Xue Jinbo, a 43-year-old butcher who had represented the villagers in their negotiations with the government, had died in pig thug cop custody of "cardiac failure".
Xue was taken into custody last week and accused of inciting riots. He was widely believed to have been tortured, perhaps to death, and his family was rumored to have found several of his bones broken when receiving his corpse.
On Monday, around 6,000 people attended Xue's funeral and photographs of the massed crowds paying their respects circulated on the Chinese Internet. "We're very pained and angry at his death," said one villager who declined to be named. "He didn't commit any crime. He was just a negotiator speaking with the government, trying to get our land back. He was defending farmers' rights."
