Chinese township riots over teacher’s death

CROWDS angered by alleged police mishandling of a school teacher’s death have reportedly attacked government offices in a southern Chinese city, sparking arrests and beatings by riot troops.

Students and local residents of Rui’an’s Tangxia township claimed police falsified a report and colluded with the husband of high school English teacher Dai Haijing, 30, to have her death classified as a suicide, according to Hong Kong newspapers Ta Kung Pao and The South China Morning Post.

The demonstrators also staged a protest at the husband’s factory.

The protests reflect widespread perceptions that China’s legal system is tainted by communist officials’ abuse of power and susceptible to influence by the country’s newly moneyed classes.

An administrator answering phones at Rui’an City People’s Hospital yesterday said more than a dozen people had been admitted for treatment following Friday’s violence, which broke out after police were sent into the public square in front of city hall.

A clerk who answered the phone at Rui’an city hall confirmed the protest, but refused to say how many people had been involved or give any other details.

“It is all under investigation,” said the man, who refused to give his name, as is common among Chinese officials. “We didn’t get much information about this.”

The newspaper reports, and an account of the protests posted on the internet, said the students initially staged a silent protest march last week after local media published the results of the police investigation.

Demonstrations then snowballed, eventually drawing thousands of participants who smashed glass and overturned cars.

Ms Dai was found dead on August 18 outside her apartment and the police report said she committed suicide by jumping from her apartment window.

The report said Ms Dai had been suffering from marital problems and depression, citing entries in her journal and medication found in her apartment.

However, Ms Dai’s family and students said she showed no signs of being suicidal, and had written in her journal about suffering physical abuse by her husband, Xie Delong, a wealthy local businessman.

Mainland China’s entirely state-controlled media has not reported the Rui’an protests, a sign of the regime’s anxiety over all unauthorised demonstrations.