{"id":57195,"date":"2016-06-21T18:54:00","date_gmt":"2016-06-21T18:54:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/127.0.0.1:10081\/?p=57195 "},"modified":"2016-06-21T18:54:00","modified_gmt":"2016-06-21T18:54:00","slug":"57195-revision-v1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/minzhuzhongguo.org\/?p=57195","title":{"rendered":"Arrest of Village Chief Sparks Protests in China"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Villagers carrying Chinese national flags protest at Wukan village in China’s Guangdong province, June 20, 2016. <\/span><\/strong><\/p>

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June 20, 2016 11:51 AM<\/span><\/strong><\/p>

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BEIJING<\/span><\/strong>\u2014Tensions are rising in China\u2019s southern coastal fishing village of Wukan after authorities arrested an influential and elderly village chief, Lin Zulian, on alleged corruption charges.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>

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Authorities sealed off the village to reporters, which is a symbol of resistance in China, with only a handful still able to stay inside. Riot police have been sent in even as residents continue to protest Lin\u2019s arrest and demand his release.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>

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Wukan became a symbol of resistance against the widespread problem of land grabs and corruption in China five years ago when its local residents rose up against local party leaders sealing off the village.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>

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In a rare concession for the communist party, which has a little tolerance for anyone who challenges its authority, the officials were removed and Lin and other protest leaders were later elected as replacements.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>

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Problems still unresolved<\/span><\/strong><\/p>

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Some call Wukan China\u2019s \u201cdemocracy village.\u201d<\/span><\/strong><\/p>

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Despite government pledges to resolve the village\u2019s land grab problems and the election of Lin and others, the problem has yet to be resolved. Now, with Lin\u2019s arrest in the middle of the night early Saturday, authorities are suggesting that he is just as corrupt as those he replaced.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>

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Local residents argued that the corruption charges were just an excuse to detain Lin as villagers were scheduled to hold a large gathering on Sunday regarding the lingering land dispute.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>

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Following Lin\u2019s arrest, thousands of local residents took to the streets on Sunday, waving Chinese flags and demanding the release of the village chief. Protests continued on Monday, although slightly smaller, but residents have pledged to not give up.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>

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While defiant, the protests have been peaceful.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>

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On Monday, many signed a massive petition calling for Lin\u2019s release, leaving their thumb prints in red ink.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>

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Villagers have told VOA that in addition to the arrest of Lin Zulian, his grandson has been detained as well. Officials have yet to confirm that arrest, but in the past authorities have used family members to pressure those in detention to make confessions.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>

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In perhaps one telling sign, local villagers said that the locator for the grandson\u2019s cell phone showed that he is at a local public security office.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>

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Moving swiftly on Monday, in the wake of Sunday\u2019s protests, authorities announced that Lin had already been replaced by his deputy, Zhang Shuijin. Authorities also said that they had little choice but to take Lin into custody because of the \u201chuge bribes\u201d he had received since taking office in 2012.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>

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Officials did not say just how much money Lin had taken in bribes or for what specific projects, but said an investigation into Lin was launched following multiple complaints from local residents.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>

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In a statement, authorities said a three-month investigation into Lin concluded on June 17, just one day before his arrest.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>

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Democracy, drastic actions<\/span><\/strong><\/p>

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State media also weighed in quickly, with the Global Times penning an editorial on Monday arguing against what it called \u201cdemocratic\u201d and \u201cdrastic actions\u201d to resolve such disputes.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>

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\u201c<\/span>Disputes over property disputes cannot be solved merely through democratic means,\u201d the editorial said.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>

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\u201c<\/span>If the drastic actions of the Wukan villagers are adopted by other people involved in disputes, China sees mess and disturbance at a grassroots level,\u201d it said. \u201cThis jeopardizes the common interests of society.\u201d<\/span><\/strong><\/p>

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The article added that the disputes \u201cmay eventually be solved in accordance with the law,\u201d but added that \u201conly villagers’ lawful demands would be met.\u201d<\/span><\/strong><\/p>

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For detail please visit here<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

<div>Authorities sealed off the village to reporters, which is a symbol of resistance in China, with only a handful still able to stay inside. Riot police have been sent in even as residents continue to protest Lin&#8217;s arrest and demand his release.<\/div><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-57195","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-ChinaHumanRights","et-doesnt-have-format-content","et_post_format-et-post-format-standard"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/minzhuzhongguo.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57195","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/minzhuzhongguo.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/minzhuzhongguo.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/minzhuzhongguo.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/minzhuzhongguo.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=57195"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/minzhuzhongguo.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57195\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/minzhuzhongguo.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=57195"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/minzhuzhongguo.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=57195"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/minzhuzhongguo.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=57195"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}