Massive protest in China over rape murder coverup

Washington Post:

Thousands of people thronged a police station in southwestern China to protest the alleged coverup of a teenage girl's rape and murder, witnesses and officials reported Sunday. The crowd set fire to a government building complex and several police vehicles.

The violence, which began Saturday, was brought under control by authorities around 2 a.m. Sunday. There were conflicting reports about the number of injuries and arrests as news of the riot spread over the Internet. Pictures and video from the incident were posted on Chinese online discussion forums and Web sites but quickly became inaccessible, ostensibly as government censors stepped in.

Spasms of public anger against perceived injustices or government corruption occur periodically in China, but this weekend's riot, in the seat of Weng'an County in Guizhou province, was larger and more destructive than many. The government has been anxious to contain such incidents, especially as it prepares to host the Olympic Games in August, pledging to show the world its prosperous, "harmonious" society, as the ruling Communist Party calls it.

Children as young as 12 began blocking the entrance to the police station sometime after 4:30 p.m. Saturday, said a middle school teacher who witnessed the incident. The teacher, who identified himself only by his surname, Zhang, said he then saw students carry two police cruisers into the building's first floor and set them ablaze.

"Police could not control them," he said in a telephone interview.

An official at the Weng'an County People's Hospital said five injured police officers were being treated at the hospital. He declined to comment on the extent of their injuries or whether others had been admitted. Repeated calls to the local public security bureau went unanswered Sunday.

An official at the local firehouse said it took six hours to put out the flames, which could be seen in the online videos ripping through the first and second floors of the building complex, where many windows had been smashed and thick black smoke billowed out. Several cars were smashed and overturned, many on fire in front of the complex, which housed the local Communist Party committee, the county government and the local police station.

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One of the problems with a totalitarian society is the people have no way to get redress of grievances with out throwing a tantrum. There have been several farmers revolts over land grabs by the party. China is just beginning to feel the insistence on freedom and accountability. It may get stronger with the world watching.