Violence erupts over 17-year-old girl's death

Source: Xinhua  |   2008-7-1  |     NEWSPAPER EDITION

A GIRL'S death in southwest China caused a weekend of violence that at its peak involved up to 30,000 people and the torching of government buildings.

The incident began on Saturday when about 300 people, who were dissatisfied with a police report on the death of a 17-year-old girl student, started to gather at the county government and public security bureau in Weng'an County of Guizhou Province, local government and police sources said.

The crowd grew in number and the resulting chaos was eventually brought under control on Sunday morning.

Yesterday, it was business as usual. Restaurants and roadside vendors opened early and downtown shops which were closed on Sunday reopened. Police said 20 officers were wounded in the violence, and witnesses said more than 30 protesters were hurt.

A total of 20 burned vehicles lay scattered in the yard of the county government compound. Sections of the building of the county's Communist Party Committee were destroyed by fire, and a staircase was still smoldering. About 100 armed policemen were patrolling the area.

The dead girl, Li Shufen, was a student at the No. 3 Middle School in Weng'an. Her body was recovered from a river in the county on June 22.

A police report said she had drowned, but relatives said she had been murdered. Some suggested the girl had been raped and killed by people with connections to local government officials.

Wang Jiao, a classmate of Li, together with two men, were among the last people to speak to Li before she died. They were taken away by police after the girl's death, but were released the next day.

Vice county head Xiao Song denied connections between children of local officials and the girl's death.

But Li's classmates and her landlord said she was a good student and couldn't have killed herself.