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No death in villager-police clash in Zhongshan
(chinadaily.com.cn)
Updated: 2006-01-17 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.
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