Authorities in the southern Chinese province of Guangdong have formally arrested the former head of a rebel village government, amid ongoing protests over a bitter land dispute in the coastal village of Wukan.
Lin Zuluan, who was detained amid renewed protests last month, has been formally arrested on suspicion of "accepting bribes," according to an online statement by the Shanwei municipal government, which oversees Wukan but was sidelined by provincial authorities in the resolution of 2011 clashes in the village.
"Lin Zuluan has been formally arrested on suspicion of taking bribes, and investigations continue," the statement said.
Prosecutors have accused Lin of pocketing a large sum of money through contracting village infrastructure projects, and he has "confessed" on local television.
But local people remember earlier clashes in 2011, when Lin directed a series of nonviolent protests over the mass selloff of land by his predecessor Xue Chang, during which protester Xue Jinbo died in police custody, igniting mass displays of public mourning that further kindled public anger.
"Every day, about 5,000 or 6,000 people march through the streets to demand justice for party secretary Lin," a Wukan resident surnamed Zhang told RFA on Friday. "They gather every day at about 5.00 p.m. outside the village government offices."
"Lin was framed," Zhang said. "We will keep doing this until they let him go. All of the villagers are behind him."
He said police hadn't yet tried to stop the protests, but were patrolling the village on a daily basis, watching the proceedings.
Many protesters' phones are now being monitored, he said, making it harder for them to make contact with the outside world.
"They locked us down. The whole area is now under government control," Zhang said. "The internet, the phones, everything is under their control."
"We can't even make calls outside the area," he said.
Lawyers denied access
Two rights lawyers hired by Lin's family to represent him have been denied access to their client, and were warned off taking the case by local authorities, who appointed their own lawyers instead.
An employee who answered the phone at the offices of Lin's government-appointed lawyers said that neither of them was there.
"I don't know [when they're coming back]," the employee said, before taking a message. No response was received by the time of publication.
Hubei-based electoral expert and former independent People's Congress deputy Yao Lifa said the authorities are playing it safe around Wukan, in the hope of avoiding an escalation of the kind that brought it world media attention back in 2011.
"The government is being very clever about this," Yao said. "You may be sure that they have calculated very precisely when to move and when to do nothing."
He called on the government to address the root cause of the protests—the return of Wukan farmland—as soon as possible.
Calls for release
Wukan residents have been protesting for Lin's release on and off since last month, carrying Chinese national flags and banners, and chanting: "Give us back our land! Give us back our party secretary!" and "Lin Zuluan is innocent!"
In 2011, Wukan's villagers manned barricades to stop police from entering their homes and detaining any more people.
Their cause was eventually taken up by the Guangdong provincial authorities, who overruled local officials in Lufeng, removing Xue Chang from his post on corruption charges and ordering a one-person, one-vote election for his replacement.
However, though Lin was appointed head of the village committee and several of the 2011 protest leaders were elected as a result, very little was done to retrieve Wukan's lost farmland, villagers said.
Then, in July 2014, former protest leaders Hong Ruichao and Yang Semao, who had both served on the newly elected village committee, were jailed for four and two years respectively for "accepting bribes." Relatives said the charges against them were trumped-up by local officials in an act of political revenge.
Villagers last month persuaded Lin to mastermind a new land petition campaign, which he had always insisted must be orderly and respectful of the law.
But his detention pre-empted a planned public meeting, and set renewed street protests in motion.
Reported by Wong Lok-to for RFA's Cantonese Service, and by Yang Fan for the Mandarin Service. Translated and written in English by Luisetta Mudie.