Update | Villagers in southern China defy warnings and press ahead with demonstration to demand chief’s release
Wukan residents hold assembly to discuss campaign on unresolved land disputes in front of police, some in riot gear
Thousands of people in Wukan in southern Guangdong province defied a police warning and staged a protest march yesterday, demanding that authorities release their village chief and return occupied land.
Under a scorching sun, more than 2,000 residents from children to the elderly gathered at about 2pm amid a heavy presence of riot police, waving national flags and giant white banners declaring their grievances.
“Release our party secretary, return our land,” they chanted in the village’s central plaza. Authorities had attempted to halt the assembly by detaining Wukan’s party secretary, Lin Zuluan, at midnight on Saturday.
All shops and restaurants were closed as the villagers gathered for the first time in nearly five years.
The fishing village 120km east of Hong Kong made international headlines in September 2011 when residents staged a series of protests over land seizures. The Guangdong provincial government eventually relented and, in an attempt to end the protests over their land, granted the villagers a grass-roots election to select their own leaders.