Police Attacked In South China Over Controversial Death Of Motorcyclist , July 18. More than 100 people attacked police officers over the controversial death of a motorcycle driver in Huizhou City of south China's Guangdong Province on Thursday.
The trouble was triggered by the disputed death of a motorcycle driver surnamed Ouyang from central Hunan Province, who had made money using his vehicle to carry passengers in Boluo
The driver's family members said that Ouyang was beaten to death by the security guards of the Shangnan Village, but local police were told that Ouyang died from a traffic accident.The traffic police of the Yuanzhou Township received an emergency call at about 4:27 a.m. on Thursday about a motorcycle driver who fell from his vehicle and was injured near a gas station. They found the driver had died when they arrived at the spot at 4:40 a.m.
A 30-meter-long tyre track was found on the ground, suggesting the motorcycle was travelling at a high speed when the accident happened. Police also found a dent in the driver's head, indicating a lethal blow.
After a spot investigation for an hour, the police decided to take the motorcycle back to police station and send the driver's body to funeral home. But they were stopped by the victim's friends.
The family members of the victim arrived at the site at about 7 a.m., and they believed Ouyang was beaten to death by the security guards of Shangnan Village. They demanded that nobody should move the body before the murderers were caught and punished.
More and more people gathered at the site. Then, more than 100 people, including the victim's family members, hometown fellows and a number of people who had no knowledge of what had actually happened, staged an attack
They were also investigating whether Ouyang had conflicts with the security guards, whether he had been chased by them when the traffic accident happened, whether the guards charged "protection fees" from the driver and other issues
The trouble happened almost three weeks after a violent protest in Weng'an County of the southwestern Guizhou Province. At the time, about 30,000 residents stormed police and government office buildings after rumors spread that police had covered up the rape and murder of a local teenage girl. Autopsies, however, revealed she had drowned.
Local officials admitted there were social grievances in Weng'an, citing the county authorities had failed to solve disputes over mines, demolition of homes for city building, relocation of residents for reservoir construction, reform of state-owned enterprises and other issues.
The unprecedented public help campaign that started earlier this month was in response to recent public protests. It displayed the central leadership was paying more attention to public complaints after a rising number of social conflicts at the grassroots level