Blockaded China Villagers Cancel Protest March After Winning Concessions

Residents of a blockaded southern Chinese village canceled a protest march after winning concessions from the highest-ranking official yet to intervene in a two-week standoff over land and the death of a local man.

Zhu Mingguo, deputy secretary-general of the Communist Party’s Guangdong province committee, called the protesters’ demands in Wukan “reasonable” and agreed to release villagers held in police custody, Xinhua News Agency reported. He acknowledged party committees and government organizations in Wukan made “some mistakes,” which will be fixed. Wukan is about 150 kilometers (93 miles) east of Hong Kong in Guangdong.

The decision to meet the villagers’ demands is part of a wider government strategy aimed at containing such protests before they spread, said Joseph Cheng, a politics professor at the City University of Hong Kong. The standoff and other protests have sparked concerns that unrest stemming from China’s growth could undermine the Communist Party’s rule. Read More