Since September, the residents of Wukan, a fishing village in the southern province of Guangdong, have effectively been governing themselves after chasing out the local leaders they accuse of stealing their land.

For the past 10 days, they have lived under a police blockade and held daily protests calling on the authorities to release three community leaders who have been detained since September.

They have also expressed their outrage over the death in custody of Xue Xinbo, whom the government claimed died of a heart attack, but whose family says he was beaten to death.

On Thursday, the villagers' protests bore fruit. A village representative named Yang Semao said that provincial officials had agreed to release the men and to look into the cause of Xue's death again.

March postponed

Yang Semao called on residents to take down their protest banners and said that a march on local government headquarters in the nearby town of Lufeng would not go ahead as planned. Instead it would be postponed for 24 hours to allow time for talks, he stated.

Another community spokesman said that the three men would be released on Wednesday and Thursday.

Meanwhile, in Haimen, some 115 kilometers (70 miles) from Wukan, demonstrators vowed they would continue their protests against a coal-fired power plant project after residents said two people died in clashes with police on Tuesday.

Author: Anne Thomas (AFP, Reuters)
Editor: Sarah Berning