LEAD: Protest leader appointed party chief of Chinese village

By Bill Smith Jan 16, 2012, 10:30 GMT

Beijing - An elderly man who led land protests has been appointed secretary of the village branch of China's ruling Communist Party, villagers and state media said Monday.

Lin Zulian, 67, was given the post in Wukan Sunday by a party committee in Donghai township of the southern province of Guangdong.

'It was voted on by the party members,' one resident told dpa by telephone from the village, which he said had more than 130 party members.

Lin was a leader of protests that have led to clashes with police since September over property development and alleged illegal evictions.

Most villagers supported Lin's appointment, said the resident, whose name was withheld to protect him from possible reprisals.

'We all feel very happy because we believe that only Old Mr Lin can really help us get back our farmland,' he said. 'If only the government can let him be the party secretary for three years, we believe we can achieve our goals.'

Photographs posted on the popular Sina.com Weibo microblog service showed happy-looking villagers posing with Lin after the announcement of his new post.

The official Xinhua news agency said Wukan's former party secretary was sacked and placed under investigation.

A wider investigation of the complaints by villagers began on December 20 and was still under way, the agency said.

Lin was asked to lead preparatory work for the election of a new village committee, it said.

Land protests have become common across China in recent years as a growing number of rural residents fight alleged corruption and secret land deals by local officials.

In comments published on Monday, Premier Wen Jiabao said loss of farmland was threatening China's food production as well as causing friction between residents and officials in rural areas.

The government planned to amend the regulations on land seizure this year to protect farmers' rights, Wen was quoted as saying in the state-run policy magazine Qiushi, or Seeking Truth.

'Land contracts, land-use rights and collective land distribution rights are legal assets granted to farmers by law,' Wen said.

'No matter whether they stay in their villages or go to towns [for temporary work], no one can take away their rights,' he said.

Hundreds of people in Guangdong's neighbouring province of Fujian have protested since last month over an alleged illegal land deal in Xibian village, US-based Radio Free Asia reported.

Police detained at least six people following a protest on Thursday in Xibian, which is populated by members of China's mainly Muslim Hui minority, the broadcaster said.

The land dispute in Wukan started after a livestock company and a property developer announced plans to build on land bought from the local government.

The villagers said they still owned the land and were disappointed by the government's failure to resolve the dispute.

The protests escalated again after the death of another protest leader, Xue Jinbo, on December 11.

The government insisted that Xue died of a heart attack but activists linked his death to that of Qian Yunhui, another village land activist who was crushed by a truck in the eastern province of Zhejiang in December 2010.