CHINA: Chinese authorities have arrested a number of people over a riot last week at a southern China wind-power plant, in which police shot dead three protesters.
Blaming "a few instigators", riot police used live rounds in the village of Dongzhoukeng in Guangdong province, near Hong Kong.
The farmers were demonstrating over a lack of compensation for land they gave up to the wind-power plant. The incident marks the first time Chinese authorities have fired on protesters since the crushing of the Tiananmen Square pro-democracy demonstrations in 1989.
China's Communist Party has a monopoly on power and allows no dissent, but these kinds of protests are becoming increasingly common.
Authorities have acknowledged that last year there were in the region of 74,000 riots, or what the police refer to as "mass incidents", in China, and the Communist Party admits the growing gap between the urban wealthy and the rural poor, combined with widespread corruption at local level, is leading to social unrest.
Last week's incident marks an escalation. Although police often use tear gas and truncheons to disperse demonstrators, it is extremely rare for them to fire into a crowd.
After several days of silence over the incident, official news agency Xinhua said late last week that three rioters were killed after police opened fire "in alarm" during the attack.
Locals say up to 20 people died and more were still missing - families did not dare approach police to request the bodies for fear of being detained.
The authorities described the protest as "a serious violation of the law" and a special group had been set up to investigate the incident, Xinhua said.
Local residents believe nine people were arrested, while the authorities said the official who ordered the shooting has also been detained.
During the attack, more than 170 villagers armed with knives, spears, petrol bombs and pipe bombs stormed the plant.