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http://chinadigitaltimes.net
Wukan Villagers Reject Ransom, Siege Continues The siege of Wukan continued Thursday, with the village still in “open revolt” following the death of Xue Jinbo, who had been held in detention for several days for his suspected involvement in protests against illegal land grabs in September. Malcolm Moore, the Telegraph reporter who evaded the police blockade and provided updates yesterday from within the village, has pulled out and explained why in a Google Plus post. Yesterday evening, he reported that villagers rejected a ransom proposal from a representative of the expelled government to release the four men still held in custody, as well as the body of Xue Jinbo, in exchange for an end to the ongoing protests: The government sent an uncle of one of the prisoners, 21-year-old Zhang Jiancheng, to plead for the village to accept the deal. “He came this morning and said that if we tear down our barricades, remove our banners and return to normal life, the government would not make any more arrests, would release its prisoners and release Xue Jinbo’s body,” said Yang Semao, one of the village’s representatives. However, Mr Yang said the village had turned down the offer, and vowed to fight on, despite only having enough food left for ten more days of the siege. He added that another government employee, a family friend of his mother, had called on her to warn that her son would be shot on sight and the villagers sent to labour camps. “All they can do at the moment is make threats, but anyone can see they are not credible,” he said. Moore has continued to provide updates on the “delicate” situation via Twitter using the hashtag #Wukan, after reporting yesterday that villagers claimed to have enough food to hold out for ten days. This afternoon, he tweeted that the government had brought 30 bags of rice into the village and offered it in exchange for signatures, which villagers say “will be used to indicate approval for the property development.” Meanwhile, the acting mayor of Shanwei county (whose jurisdiction includes Wukan) vowed to “hunt down” those it believes are leading the rebellion. From The Telegraph: In a statement to the Chinese state media, the first published acknowledgement of the ongoing strife in Wukan, Mr Wu named two of the village’s representatives, Lin Zulian and Yang Semao, as ringleaders of the protests. “Since December 8, Lin Zulian and Yang Semao organised and incited the villagers to set up barricades around the village. They did this to prevent officials from entering the village and to stop the perpetrators of the earlier riots from leaving the village and turning themselves into the authorities,” he said. … As it entered the fifth day of its police siege, and as foreign television cameras entered the village for the first time, the collective will of Wukan shows no sign of abating. The villagers, united by their anger at the death of one of their own, Xue Jinbo, in police custody, remain determined to fight against what they see as the theft of their land by their former officials and by property developers. The government’s strategy now appears to try to divide the village by offering concessions to some while punishing others. Mr Zu said the local Party disciplinary commission has approved “the relevant investigation” into the village’s former leaders, Xue Chang and Chen Shunyi. He added that the controversial property project that ignited the protests in September has been “temporarily frozen”
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