2012-01-17
A local official protests alleged corruption by setting fire to a government office.
A cell phone photo shows thousands of villagers protest a land grab by local officials in Wukan, Dec. 14, 2011.
An angry village chief in northern China’s Chengde city set fire to a government office to protest what he called official corruption and negligence of duty, police and other sources said.
Gao Jinghe, the chief of Beitai village in Hebei province, had long been at odds with his local Chinese Communist Carty chief, according to the Hong Kong-based Information Center for Human Rights and Democracy.
He had reported alleged embezzlement and abuse of power several times to officials from governing Liuzhangzi township with no results.
On Sunday, Gao went to a Chengde-based government building and had a severe altercation with several Liuzhangzi cadres. Suddenly, the village chief poured gasoline onto the top floor of the office and lit a match.
The ensuing flames destroyed 20 rooms and left the Liuzhangzi party chief and township head with serious burns. Gao himself was also injured in the fire before being led away by police.
On Monday, an employee of the Liuzhangzi township office declined to provide details about the incident by telephone.
“No, I know nothing about the fire,” the man said.
He also refused to say whether work at the office had returned to normal.
A police officer at the Liuzhangzi station, however, confirmed the incident.
“The suspect has been detained for arson and homicide. Officers in charge of criminal activities have begun an investigation into the case,” the officer said over the phone.
Security personnel at the Chengde detention center also confirmed that Gao had been locked up.
“We have caught the suspect and he is now in the detention center,” a man who answered the telephone told RFA.
Complaints ignored
According to the Information Center for Human Rights and Democracy, nearly two dozen peasants from Beitai village, including Gao, have been petitioning upper-level officials over alleged corruption and other illegal activities carried out by their local party chief.
The group said Gao had returned to the township government office on Sunday to once again present his complaints, but was “brutally attacked” by several cadres.
He later returned with gasoline and a knife before setting the office ablaze.
Last month, in an open revolt against corruption in the southern Chinese village of Wukan, villagers chased out local officials and police from the settlement and barricaded themselves in for a standoff.
In a rare move, the authorities agreed to an unusual set of government concessions, including extending recognition to protest leaders. A Wukan protest leader was appointed head of the village by the Communist Party, displacing a local businessman who ruled its affairs for more than four decades and is currently under investigation for corruption.
The Wukan revolt is seen as a landmark case in the struggle between clean governance and Party supremacy among China's rural poor.
In December, the Berlin-based corruption watchdog Transparency International said in its annual Corruption Perceptions Index that China had improved slightly to 3.6 out of 10 from 3.5 last year on a scale where 0 indicates “highly corrupt” and 10 represents “very clean” based on perceived levels of public-sector corruption.
The country moved up in rank to 75th out of 183 nations in 2011 from 78th the year before.
Transparency International said China’s public sector was heavily affected by corruption in the country in 2011 due to official interference.
Reported by Jiang Pei for RFA’s Mandarin service. Translated and written in English by Ping Chen.
Gao Jinghe, the chief of Beitai village in Hebei province, had long been at odds with his local Chinese Communist Carty chief, according to the Hong Kong-based Information Center for Human Rights and Democracy.
He had reported alleged embezzlement and abuse of power several times to officials from governing Liuzhangzi township with no results.
On Sunday, Gao went to a Chengde-based government building and had a severe altercation with several Liuzhangzi cadres. Suddenly, the village chief poured gasoline onto the top floor of the office and lit a match.
The ensuing flames destroyed 20 rooms and left the Liuzhangzi party chief and township head with serious burns. Gao himself was also injured in the fire before being led away by police.
On Monday, an employee of the Liuzhangzi township office declined to provide details about the incident by telephone.
“No, I know nothing about the fire,” the man said.
He also refused to say whether work at the office had returned to normal.
A police officer at the Liuzhangzi station, however, confirmed the incident.
“The suspect has been detained for arson and homicide. Officers in charge of criminal activities have begun an investigation into the case,” the officer said over the phone.
Security personnel at the Chengde detention center also confirmed that Gao had been locked up.
“We have caught the suspect and he is now in the detention center,” a man who answered the telephone told RFA.
Complaints ignored
According to the Information Center for Human Rights and Democracy, nearly two dozen peasants from Beitai village, including Gao, have been petitioning upper-level officials over alleged corruption and other illegal activities carried out by their local party chief.
The group said Gao had returned to the township government office on Sunday to once again present his complaints, but was “brutally attacked” by several cadres.
He later returned with gasoline and a knife before setting the office ablaze.
Last month, in an open revolt against corruption in the southern Chinese village of Wukan, villagers chased out local officials and police from the settlement and barricaded themselves in for a standoff.
In a rare move, the authorities agreed to an unusual set of government concessions, including extending recognition to protest leaders. A Wukan protest leader was appointed head of the village by the Communist Party, displacing a local businessman who ruled its affairs for more than four decades and is currently under investigation for corruption.
The Wukan revolt is seen as a landmark case in the struggle between clean governance and Party supremacy among China's rural poor.
In December, the Berlin-based corruption watchdog Transparency International said in its annual Corruption Perceptions Index that China had improved slightly to 3.6 out of 10 from 3.5 last year on a scale where 0 indicates “highly corrupt” and 10 represents “very clean” based on perceived levels of public-sector corruption.
The country moved up in rank to 75th out of 183 nations in 2011 from 78th the year before.
Transparency International said China’s public sector was heavily affected by corruption in the country in 2011 due to official interference.
Reported by Jiang Pei for RFA’s Mandarin service. Translated and written in English by Ping Chen.
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