Chinese villagers describe police beatings in ‘wild crackdown’ on grassroots protest
WUKAN (Reuters) – Residents of a Chinese village once seen as a cradle of grassroots democracy were in shock on Wednesday after a “wild crackdown” by police in clashes with protesters that they said led to about 70 people being detained.
Hong Kong rights activists fear Tuesday’s violence marks a last-ditch push to silence Wukan, a southern fishing village in Guangdong province, which received international attention when a 2011 uprising over land grabs forced authorities to back down and grant local direct elections.
“Most people have been scared badly,” said a villager named Chen. “This time it was a wild crackdown. They went after everyone, chasing them up into their houses, beating people.”
As she spoke, peeking nervously from behind curtains in her home, scores of riot and security police tightened a cordon around Wukan.
Violence flared in the 10,000-strong hamlet early on Tuesday as police launched predawn raids on homes seeking leaders of protests that had rumbled since June after the arrest of a popular leader.
Village chief Lin Zuluan, one of the last of the 2011 protest leaders to remain in office, was jailed this month for three years on graft and other charges.
Villagers threw bricks at police as they advanced with shields, batons and helmets, firing rubber bullets and using tear gas. Some residents suffered wounds to their legs, mobile phone footage seen by Reuters showed.
Many said the violence was worse than that in 2011, when the village was locked down for several months.
Repeated calls to the Guangdong provincial government for comment went unanswered.
Tension rose again as dusk fell on Wednesday, with uniformed and plain-clothed police starting more houseto-house searches, seeking both protest organizers and journalists, villagers reported.
The sound of police speaking through megaphone echoed through the streets. It was not clear what they were saying.
While low-level democratic experiments have been tried in villages across China, Wukan’s took place in the glare of both domestic and international publicity – and marked a rare moment when Communist Party officials backed down in the face of protest.
Beijing leaders are fearful of growing calls for democracy and losing their grip on power. Weeks of “umbrella revolution” pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong, to the southwest of Wukan, in 2014 presented Beijing with one of its biggest political challenges in decades.
According to the mobile phone footage seen by Reuters, elderly villagers and youngsters in school uniforms were among those detained in Wukan on Tuesday. Three rows of villagers could be seen in a police station, their wrists bound with white nylon cords.
Blue tear gas cartridges could still be seen strewn in the narrow alleyways, with black burn marks on concrete.