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Chinese villagers sentenced to jail over notorious rural riot
Beijing (AFP) May 25, 2006 Thirteen Chinese villagers will spend years in jail for a riot that ended in bloodshed when police opened fire while officials who let events get out of hand escaped with warnings, state media reported Thursday. The prison terms of between three and seven years were passed nearly six months after the December clashes in rural southern China, Xinhua news agency said. The 13, blamed as ringleaders of the riot near Shanwei city, were sentenced at the Haifeng County People's Court, following three days of proceedings ending Wednesday, according to Xinhua's website. "The accused harmed social safety, upset social order, interfered with law enforcement and business operations and caused serious economic losses," the report said. The violence received considerable attention as one of the bloodiest clashes between authorities and citizens since the 1989 Tiananmen crackdown. While the Chinese government insisted at the time only three had been killed when police opened fire, villagers told foreign reporters as many as 30 might have lost their lives. The shooting occurred during a confrontation between hundreds of People's Armed Police officers and about 1,000 villagers protesting against the construction of the power plant. Villagers complained the government refused to fairly compensate them for taking their land to build the plant, which they said would also threaten their earnings from fishing and gathering sea products. While villagers accused of being behind the riots received lengthy jail terms in this week's trial, officials deemed responsible for letting the clash spin out of control appeared to get only administrative punishments. The Shanwei deputy Communist Party secretary got a "serious warning," while the Shanwei deputy mayor and police chief were also both warned. Thursday's Xinhua report did not repeat the official figure of three fatalities, but admitted people had died in the clashes. "In the emergency situation, the police ordered officers to deliver warning shots," the agency said. "Because it was dark, and the situation was very confusing, people were killed or injured by mistake."
Source: Agence France-Presse
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