Police in southwest China have arrested 100 people for their involvement in a major riot last month that highlighted social tensions ahead of the Beijing Olympics, state press said yesterday.
A protest involving 30,000 people saw government buildings and cars torched on June 28 in Wengan County, Guizhou Province, after crowds accused police of covering up the alleged rape and murder of a 17-year-old girl.
The riots came at a particularly sensitive time for China’s communist rulers, who have been trying to portray the nation as harmonious and stable ahead of next month’s Olympics.
Police have repeatedly denied the accusations they covered up the real cause of the girl’s death.
But sacked Wengan police chief Shen Guirong (申貴榮) last week admitted the riot could have also been triggered by his former colleagues’ links to triad mobsters and a history of crushing dissent.
Immediately after the unrest, authorities accused “gangsters” of inciting protesters into rioting and began gathering video tape of the unrest.
According to yesterday’s Guizhou Daily, 100 people have been arrested for the riots, including 39 who are suspected of being associated with mafia figures.
Other cases involving 570 suspects are still under investigation, the paper said.
“Preparations to arrest others suspected of criminal activity are under way,” the paper said. “Among these up to 90 of the suspects are linked to gangsters.”
Locals have insisted that most of the rioting was done by middle school classmates of the dead girl, who had accused police of covering up her rape and murder by the son of a local official.
But sacked police chief Shen said that the riots could have also been triggered by anger over a corrupt police force and police brutality in quelling previous unrest in Wengan.
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