Officials admit residents harbored grievances

GUIYANG: Officials in Guizhou province have admitted that residents of Weng'an county have been harboring social grievances, following a violent protest over the weekend sparked by the death of a 17-year-old girl in the county.

At a panel discussion on the protest on Wednesday, officials from the provincial and local governments said local authorities in Weng'an had failed to solve disputes over the work at mines, demolition of homes for urban development, relocation of residents for reservoir construction and the reform of State-owned enterprises, among other issues.

The panel suggested that Shen Guirong, chief of the Weng'an public security bureau, and Luo Laiping, political commissar of the bureau, should be removed from their posts.