(Reuters) – Thousands of protesters took to the streets in the city of Luzhou in southwestern China on Wednesday, after reports a truck driver was beaten to death by policemen, residents said.
Pictures and video on China’s popular microblogging site Sina Weibo showed an apparently dead man sprawled out on the ground next to a truck as police held back onlookers.
Reuters was unable to independently verify the photos and calls seeking comment from the Luzhou government in Sichuan province went unanswered.
China’s Communist Party has been trying to keep a lid on protests ahead of a meeting in Beijing next month which will usher in a new generation of leaders.
Residents contacted by telephone said they had heard reports that traffic policemen had beaten a truck driver to death after an unspecified dispute.
“People are very angry about this and are out on the streets to show their anger,” said one resident of the Hongxingcun neighborhood where the unrest was focused. He did not witness the incident and declined to give his name.
A manager at a local restaurant who gave her family name as Wang added that several thousand people had taken to the streets.
Images posted later in the evening showed overturned police cars, some of which had been set alight.
Some Weibo posts said the police had used tear gas to disperse the demonstrators.
