Police looking for suspects involved in mass incident

Having arrested and detained 10 suspects involved in a mass incident late last month, police in Jiexi, Guangdong province, are tracking down another 21.

Wu Guicun, a local businessman suspected of leading a Mafia-like gang and masterminding the incident, is now on the nation's most-wanted list, while Li Baoyu, the then head of Shangpu village, where the incident occurred, remains in police custody.

Li is alleged to have inked a contract under the table in mid-January to transfer a piece of farmland covering an area of more than 400 mu (27 hectares) to a local company backed by Wu.

"The local authorities have taken several other steps to dispose of the aftermath of the incident so as to bring the locals' livelihoods back to normal," Lin Weizhe, director of Jiexi county government's information office, said on Saturday.

They include temporary traffic controls on the road to the village to improve safety, free healthcare service, face-to-face dialogues between the county leaders and the villagers, as well as investigations into possible administration problems and corruption among village officials.

"Villagers can rest assured that the local court has ruled that the contract is null and void in light of the law," the official said.

"We hope the government can take efficient actions to arrest all those interlopers so that our future life will not be disturbed and our safety can be ensured," a middle-aged female villager, who asked not to be named, told China Daily on Saturday.

"And we really appeal to the government to get back the contract so that our farmland can be returned to us soon," she added.

The Shangpu incident broke out on Feb 22 after local villagers challenged the then village head on the land lease contract.

The suspect then colluded with Wu Guicun and mustered scores of thugs to the village, where they clashed with residents.

Four villagers were injured, and 29 of the intruders' vehicles were smashed.