Image Source: Telegraph

BY EMOKE BEBIAK

Chinese authorities and the residents of a coastal fishing village are in a stand-off after riots intensified earlier this week. The Daily Mail reports the riots started three months ago when villagers protested land grabs...

“Residents complained that their farmland was being sold by local officials to developers to build factories without their consent. Local government offices were stormed, and Wukan's residents chased out the Communist Party secretary who had ruled the village for three decades.”

The riots became so intense this week that Chinese authorities surrounded the village and cut off food and water supplies waiting for villagers to surrender. The New York Times explains...

“The conflict... escalated Monday after residents learned that one of the representatives they had selected to negotiate with the local Communist Party had died in police custody. The authorities say a heart attack killed the 42-year-old man, but relatives say his body bore signs of torture.”

The villagers hope the riots will force authorities to protect their land. The BBC reports...

“Villagers are calling for the overthrow of corrupt officials, they also want to see safeguards for their land. They insist that the only way to protect themselves is by uniting and speaking out.”

Two local officials accused of embezzling money from land sales are under investigation by local authorities. But the villagers still haven’t gotten their land or their money back after months of negotiations with local leaders.

A reporter tells CNN the rioters hope national authorities will step in.

“So now the villagers are appealing to higher authorities, they are appealing up to Beijing, and it’s a kind of judgment of Solomon type of affair, where they are hoping that Beijing will see that local authorities are also corrupt and will rule on their side.”

But an editorial in the Washington Times suggests the story is not likely to have a happy ending...

“There’s little doubt how this episode will end. The success of the people of Wukan will be their undoing. There are reports of conciliatory gestures from the government, but Beijing ultimately won’t accept this challenge to party power.”

NDTV reports Chinese authorities have blocked news coverage on the Internet about the riots.