Residents in Guangdong's restive Wukan village have agreed to a truce after government officials pledged a thorough investigation into illegal land grabs that triggered days of sometimes violent protests last week.
Village representatives promised to co-operate with the government and not do anything 'too drastic' while talks continue with Lufeng city officials, according to a statement posted on the government website yesterday.
One leading villager told the South China Morning Post that Lufeng vice-mayors Qiu Jinxiong and Zheng Shengkun vowed to send three government-led task forces to Wukan today.
The groups, which would include representatives from the Communist Party's disciplinary body, would look into accusations that village officials illegally seized and sold off the community's collectively held land.
Villagers claim tracts have been sold to developers to build factories with little or no compensation, and that their appeals have been ignored.
Rumours that a village-owned pig farm had been sold to a mainland developer for more than one billion yuan (HK$1.22 billion) were blamed for setting off waves of protests and riots that had gripped the city since Wednesday afternoon.