Hundreds of baton-wielding police dispersed protesters and cordoned off a city hotel in central China yesterday after a young man’s mysterious death sparked unrest, a local official and a witness said.
About 1,000 people had gathered in Hubei Province’s Shishou City since Friday, angered by the death of 24-year-old Tu Yuangao, whose body was found on Wednesday evening in front of the hotel, Xinhua news agency said.
Xinhua said Tu worked as a chef at the hotel and some residents believed he was killed by gangsters or by the hotel’s boss, who is related to the city mayor.
More than 200 people were injured in the clashes between police and residents outside the hotel, Hong Kong-based rights group the Information Center for Human Rights and Democracy said.
Xinhua said there were no reports of injuries. Protesters blocked roads, smashed windows and set fire to the hotel while preventing police from moving Tu’s body, which had been inside the hotel, it said.
Discontent with local officials and police in China often leads to mass protests, which can gather in size and force with remarkable speed. Mild frustration can turn into fury within minutes.
A local resident surnamed Chen said protesters started gathering outside the hotel on Friday and by late on Saturday had clashed five or six times with police, smashing six police vans and fire trucks.
Chen said thousands of armed police with shields and batons were deployed in the area.
The crowd started dispersing early yesterday, but security was tight, he said.
“The area around the hotel is still cordoned off by hundreds of police with batons,” Chen said in a telephone interview Sunday.
A man who answered the phone at the Shishou government said the crowd dispersed after local authorities persuaded them to leave and there had been no conflicts since Saturday afternoon.
The man, who refused to give his name, said authorities were investigating the death of Tu, whose body was moved from the hotel to a funeral parlor yesterday. Chinese media reported that police ruled out murder, saying they found a suicide note.
Amateur video clips of the protest posted online showed hundreds of riot police marching down a street to reinforce a human barricade formed by officers who held their shields above their heads, supported by police vans and fire trucks. In one clip, hundreds of protesters were seen surging toward police, picking up objects and hurling them at the officers, who retreated.
The video appeared to be posted by a US-based user on YouTube, which is blocked in China.
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