Protesting farmer crushed to death in Sichuan
Two more farmers die over disputes with developers
Another farmer has been crushed to death in China in a dispute with a mining company on Wednesday – the third such case in a week, mainland media reported on Friday.
Last Wednesday, a Henan farmer was killed by a forklift in a similar incident. The driver was arrested on suspicion of “involuntary manslaughter”.
On Saturday, a woman farmer in Hubei was crushed by a cement delivery tanker in a suspected murder case. Gruesome photos of the earlier victims were widely circulated online. They sparked widespread outrage and condemnation from Chinese netizens.
According to Song’s family, he left his village for the construction site on Wednesday morning. He was planning to confront Chongqing Iron & Steel because their operations were blocking an irrigation canal which was the village’s only water source. It had been blocked several times in the past by this company.
Song’s family members said they were only told about his death at 6pm on Wednesday. When they went to a funeral parlour, they discovered an autopsy had already been carried out on Song. But the family’s permission to have this conducted had not been sought.