No death in villager-police clash in Zhongshan
(chinadaily.com.cn)
Updated: 2006-01-18 01:24

A local official from Zhongshan, south China's Guangdong Province, denied Tuesday, January 16, overseas media reports that a girl villager was killed in a recent "villager-police clash."

The spokesman from the Information Office of Zhongshan city government said the 14-year-old girl, Feng Meiying, was on her way to her school when she fell off her bike near the clash site Saturday afternoon and died of heart attack later in the evening in a hospital.

The official said her death had nothing to do with the clash. The following is a full text of an interview with the official.

Spokesman of the Information Office of Zhongshan city government on a recent incident of villager group petition and road blockade

In the past few days, overseas media reported that a "police-village clash," arising from a land requisition dispute in Zhongshan, Guangdong Province, resulted in a death and injuries. A spokesman of the Information Office of Zhongshan people's government talked about this in an interview.

Question: Overseas media reported that up to 1,000 villagers took part in the "police-villager clash" in Zhongshan, and the situation now is still tense. Is this true?

Answer: Recently, an incident of group petition and traffic blockade by some villagers happened in our city. On January 10, some villagers from Panlong village of Sanjiao town assembled in group at the Sanjiao town government to file a complaint about compensation for land requisition. From January 11 to the evening of January 14, some villagers assembled several times in front of the Sanjiao town government and nearby roads to block traffic, and at the peak, the number of villagers exceeded 100, and their action attracted some onlookers. Relevant departments of the city handled it properly and according to law, and the situation has been eased and is calm now.

Question: Please explain how this incident happened.

Answer: With consent from the villagers, the government of Sanjiao town requisitioned a lot of land of Panlong village for industrial development in 2003. And the town government provided compensation for land requisition and crop compensation to local villagers in time. On January 10, about 100 villagers from Panlong village of Sanjiao town assembled in group at the Sanjiao town government, saying that the then compensation standard for land requisition was too low. When their demand was not satisfied, some villagers assembled at Nansan Road to block traffic the following morning. On January 14, about 100 villagers assembled at Nansan Road again, they blocked traffic at about 8pm, and caused more than 500 people to look on. Police department sent a car with loudspeakers to persuade the villagers who were blocking the road at 9:30pm that evening, and some police went to maintain traffic order. A few instigators threw brick, stone and home-made firecrackers to the police officers and onlookers around. Two police officers and three villagers were slightly injured by stone, and the police car's wind shield was smashed.In order to restore normal traffic and prevent the incident from escalating, the police department organized police officers to direct traffic at 10:30pm that evening and took 25 suspected troublemakers to the police department for investigation.At 10:50pm that evening, villagers dispersed gradually and traffic on the Nansan highway returned to normal. During this incident, excluding four instigators who were given a 15-day detention for disrupting public order, the rest were discharged after education. In the entire process, police officers performed their duties in a civil manner and did not carry any weapon, nor did they use water canon or teargas.

After the incident, relevant departments of Zhongshan city and the Sanjiao town government responded actively to the reasonable demands of the petitioner villagers, meticulously persuaded and explained to them, and properly handled the problem. The incident is not being handled in an orderly way.

Question: Is there a girl, a middle school student, "was beaten to death" in the clash?

Answer: The fact is: Two police officers and three villagers were slightly injured and no one was dead in this incident. Contrary to the rumor, there is no connection at all between the girl's death and the incident. The girl's name was Feng Meiying, 14 years old, a villager from Xinfeng No 5 Farming Team, Dongnan village, Panlong town. She was in her second middle-school year of her schooling at the Sanjiao middle school. The girl got congenital heart disease ever since her childhood, and once fell down and fainted due to her heart problem. On January 14, Feng Meiying and another student were riding bikes to school at about 4pm. When they came to a place four kilometers from where the villager blocked the road, Feng Meiying fell off her bike, people nearby immediately called the police for help. About 10 minutes later, ambulance came and took Feng Meiying to the No 3 People's Hospital for emergency treatment. Feng Meiying died when medical efforts failed at 6pm that evening. According to the appraisal from the experts of the people's hospital, Feng Meiying died of her congenital heart disease.