Beijing probes south China fraud protests

By CNN staff

(CNN) -- Beijing is investigating a rare case of protest against mismanagement and electoral irregularities in the prosperous city of Dongguan, Guangdong Province in southern China.

For three days in a row starting Sunday, a few thousand residents in villages under Dongguan staged protests against alleged fraudulent accounting, embezzlement and other malpractices by administrators.

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Several villages in the towns of Qiaotou, Houjie and Changping were affected.

Anti-government feelings were strongest in the village of Shishuikou, Qiaotou, who alleged that their cadres had embezzled funds that had been raised through land sales.

Local sources said the demonstrators, who chanted anti-corruption slogans and blocked traffic, were also trying to stop corrupt village officials from using undue influence to get re-elected.

The semi-official China News Service reported on Wednesday that authorities in Dongguan, one of the richest cities in China, were conducting investigations and trying to mediate among the parties.

Village-level elections, which have been touted by Beijing as an example of democratic development in China, are being held in various parts of Guangdong province.

Eyewitnesses in Dongguan said the protests erupted on Sunday because of allegations that village officials had tampered with official budgets and accounts.

Moreover, a number of these officials were candidates for village elections -- and were likely to be re-elected.

'Under control'

Up to 1,000 police and para-military People's Armed Police were deployed in Qiaotou and a few dozen protestors were detained on Monday and Tuesday.

No fresh protests were reported on Wednesday. However, extra police and PAP officers were on hand to maintain order in Shishuikou and other Qiaotou villages.

Officials in the Dongguan police department refused to release details, saying only that the situation was under control.

A source in the provincial capital of Guangzhou said the matter had been reported to Beijing, which had demanded a full investigation.

He said while protests by unemployed workers and farmers had become common in the past two years, it was unusual for residents in prosperous areas such as Dongguan to hold demonstrations.

Moreover, only a handful of cases of protests over election irregularities have been reported in the past year.

The source said it was likely that to pacify the angry villagers, elections in Dongguan would be postponed.