Protesters hold pictures of Wukan village’s 70-year-old leader, Lin Zuluan during a protest yesterday in Hong Kong
The popular head of a Chinese village who won a rare open election in 2012 following a standoff with the ruling Communist Party said in a televised statement yesterday that he accepted kickbacks for government contracts, as thousands of his supporters marched in the streets calling for his release.
Lin Zuluan was arrested early Saturday shortly before he planned to lead protests against land grabs by local developers. His arrest touched off days of demonstrations in Wukan village, where many residents maintain his innocence and say the confession, televised yesterday, was forced.
The village received international attention in 2011 when residents held protests and won unusual permission from the Communist Party to hold an open election the following spring, which Lin won.
Holding Chinese flags and parasols in the sweltering heat, thousands of Lin’s supporters marched yesterday to a local government office with a banner bearing their signatures and fingerprints seeking his release.
Residents leery of the government through years of disputes say Lin’s reported confession was linked to the detention of his grandson on Monday.
Hundreds of riot police have been patrolling Wukan’s streets since Lin’s arrest Saturday, apparently to prevent a repeat of the 2011 uprising, when residents expelled local officials and police and barricaded the village in an extraordinary show of defiance.
There were no reports of clashes yesterday. Videos posted online showed heavily armed riot police standing in rows along village streets looking on as protesters marched by.
While prosecutors have pushed ahead to bring charges against Lin this week, municipal officials administering the village have sought to defuse the situation by pledging to investigate residents’ complaints of land grabs. Gerry Shih, Beijing, AP
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