Questions over road death of ex-village head
The death of a former Zhejiang village chief who had been seeking compensation for land has caused an uproar on the internet, with villagers and Net users saying he was murdered.
Police detained six villagers for disrupting public order following the death.
Authorities in the city of Yueqing said Qian Yunhui, a village chief who had been petitioning for six years to get compensation for the loss of village land, died in a road accident. But internet postings by villagers say Qian was overpowered by four men who threw him under the wheels of a heavy truck, which crushed his neck.
Pictures circulating on the internet showed Qian lying in the middle of the road with his face down, his neck close to one of the truck's wheels. Internet users questioned how only his neck was crushed.
Villagers told the China Youth Daily that they received phone calls from the township government asking them if they were aware of the incident and saying that the widespread rumours of murder were untrue.
Qian was elected village chief in 2005 and started leading villagers in a petition to get compensation for 146 hectares of land that was requisitioned in 2004 for a power plant. He was detained three times during the petitioning.
Qian began publishing reports about the illegal occupation of the land online this year, when another piece of the village's land was taken by the Lingang Development Area. The truck that ran over him was working for the development area.
Yueqing authorities said the unlicensed truck driver had braked before hitting Qian, who was crossing the road holding an umbrella.
'Based on the confession of the driver, the witness account and result of a site survey, this was a traffic accident,' a statement that was released by the Yueqing publicity department said.
It said 11 policemen were sent to the scene after they received a call that a man might have been killed in a road accident, and they were attacked by about 40 villagers.
The statement said villagers and Qian's family had blocked the road by setting up a memorial hall and had tried to stop police from conducting an investigation.
Five policemen were injured and six people were detained for their role in the attack.
