Word: dongzhou
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When local riot police backed by armed security forces drove tanks into the southern China village of Dongzhou on Dec. 6 and began shooting at demonstrators, there were no journalists present. Still, in this age of the Internet and cell phones, news soon began to filter out that at least six villagers had been killed. And by the end of the week the authorities admitted something had gone terribly wrong, announcing that a top police commander had been detained...
...Yudui, it started out as a relatively peaceful protest of 1,000 villagers against a plan by local officials to seize land to build a power plant. The 26-year-old air conditioner salesman had returned to his home town of Dongzhou to get married, but instead his family this week buried him after a secret funeral. Hundreds of riot police and soldiers, plus several tanks, were called in to disperse the protesters with tear gas-not that unusual in a country where the number of demonstrations over everything from environmental degradation to land seizures are increasing every year. Such...
...home from Shanghai to his native Guangdong province earlier this month to get married. Instead, the parents of the 26-year-old air-conditioner salesman are now preparing for his funeral. Last Tuesday afternoon, Lin joined what locals estimate was a 1,000-strong protest in southern China's Dongzhou village, where three people had been detained while demanding compensation for land that residents say had been seized by local officials to build a power plant. Hundreds of riot police and soldiers, plus several tanks, were called in to disperse the protesters with tear gas?not that unusual...
...What happened next in Dongzhou, though, was far from ordinary. Just after 7 p.m., say two locals reached by TIME by phone, riot police opened fire on the villagers, who responded by throwing homemade explosives. By the time the smoke had cleared, Lin and at least five others were dead, according to the two eyewitnesses. "We never imagined that they would shoot people," says a Dongzhou housewife surnamed Huang, whose father was injured in the fight. On Saturday, a government report said three villagers had died, adding that the police were forced to shoot in self-defense. But three locals...