Life resumes after brawl between residents, thugs

Pupils play at a primary school in Shangpu village, Jiexi, Guangdong province.Order has been restored in Shangpu village, Jiexi, Guangdong province, after a mass incident late last month. Photo provided to China Daily

The lives of Shangpu villagers in Jiexi county, Guangdong province, are slowly returning to normal after a large brawl between villagers and outside thugs last month, a local official said.

Residents had sealed off the village for about three weeks after the Feb 22 melee, only recently allowing the county government to intervene.

"Many villagers joined willingly in the local government's efforts to clear (villagers') road blockades in the past two days," said Lin Weizhe, director of the county government's information office.

"The makeshift checkpoints have been torn down, and all the smashed and upturned cars have been taken away. Order has been restored in the village, and road traffic is in good order again."

The official said that the county government is still talking to the villagers, and efforts to deal with the aftermath are on track.

The government took action to clear roadblocks on Sunday morning after most of the villagers agreed.

Lin acknowledged that a few villagers refused to leave their checkpoints and even fought with police.

"Some (villagers) were taken away by local police, and some who had minor injuries were hospitalized," he said.

"The local government will gear up efforts to respond to villagers' request and to track down Wu Guicun, who was suspected of leading a gang and masterminded the mass incident which broke out late last month, as well as other gang members."

On Feb 22, scores of thugs came to Shangpu village in their vehicles, reportedly with the intention of intimidating the villagers into agreeing to a land-lease deal between then-village head Li Baoyu, now in police custody, and a local company backed by Wu. The deal was alleged made without most villagers' consent.

But the villagers fought back and chased the intruders off, burning two of their cars and overturning another 27.

The villagers then erected roadside shelters, blocked the road with the wrecked vehicles, and prevented the local government from clearing the site for about three weeks.