Outcry grows over death of land rights campaigner

Dec 29, 2010, 9:09 GMT

Beijing - Rights activists and online commentators on Wednesday demanded an investigation into the death of a former village head who led petitions for land rights in the eastern Chinese province of Zhejiang.

Police insisted that land-rights campaigner Qian Yunfeng, 53, died in a traffic accident in Zhejiang's Zhaoqiao village on Saturday.

But the police reportedly detained several witnesses and fought with protesting villagers following Qian's death.

Beijing-based Wu Gan said he was organizing a group of activists and lawyers to help the villagers. Wu said the group planned to petition authorities on Thursday.

'What we will do is urge them to release the witnesses and let them tell the truth,' Wu told the German Press Agency dpa.

Officials at a press conference on Monday in Yueqing city, which administers Zhaoqiao, said police had arrested the driver of a heavy truck which killed Qian. They rejected claims by villagers that the death was suspicious.

On Tuesday, a deputy provincial governor issued a statement promising to 'get to the truth of what happened and to deal with the situation in a timely manner according to the law.'

But the official statements failed to quell the clamour from online commentators and state media for an independent investigation.

Posts on several major forums and local websites about the case reportedly attracted 4 million hits and 200,000 comments by Tuesday.

Qian had represented villagers since 2004 when the Zhejiang Provincial Energy Group took control of 150 hectares of farmland for industrial development, the China Youth Daily and other state media said.

He was detained three times over his petitioning for compensation for villagers who lost land, the newspaper said.

It quoted villagers as saying Qian was 'very protective' of their interests and had appeared likely to be re-elected village head in the next election.

Initial reports of his death were accompanied by shocking images of Qian still trapped under the truck with part of his upper body apparently crushed by a front wheel of the vehicle.

Some early online reports claimed that witnesses saw four or five men push Qian under the truck.

The unconfirmed reports prompted scores of villages to protest in Zhaiqiao and prevent the removal of Qian's body.

Hundreds of police deployed to disperse the crowd, with several arrests and injuries, the Southern Metropolitan News quoted villagers as saying.

One of Qian's grieving daughters and her husband were beaten and arrested by police, Qian's daughter-in-law, A Ping, told US-based Radio Free Asia.

Rights groups quoted other family members as saying Qian had spent the two nights before his death away from his home because he feared an attack.

'Of course this incident is suspicious: The truck was going the wrong way, the camera at the intersection failed to record the incident, and the body was at right angles to the kerb,' the Yanzhao Metropolitan Daily said in a commentary.

'The truth must not be hidden. Was this death intentional? Was Qian Yunhui thrown under the wheels of a truck because he kept on making petitions?' it said.

Chinese police record thousands of riots and protests in rural areas every year.

Many of the most violent incidents have been linked to land disputes in which farmers claimed they were cheated by corrupt local officials and developers.

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