Chinese to face more Wukan-style protests: official

A top Chinese official who helped defuse a rare revolt by villagers has said the country should be prepared for further protests as people grow more assertive in demanding their rights.
Zhu Mingguo compared the situation in the southern Chinese village of Wukan, where residents angered by years of illegal land grabs drove out their Communist leaders, to an apple that appears healthy but is “rotten to the core”.
“In this area, there were a lot of problems that were not found out in time, and once violence erupted, the aftermath was serious,” the state-run Guangzhou Daily quoted Zhu as telling a meeting on social stability.
“It is like an apple rotten to the core, on the outside the skin is red, but once broke open the mess can’t be cleaned up.”
The residents of Wukan ended their stand-off with authorities in Guangdong last week when Zhu, deputy party secretary for the wealthy southern province, called their complaints “reasonable” and said three detained protest leaders would be freed.
The Wukan protests exploded because local officials failed to address the villagers’ complaints and refused to consult them on decisions about collectively owned land, Zhu said, warning of further unrest if problems were not addressed.
“The public’s awareness of democracy, equality and rights is continually getting stronger, and as a result their demands are growing,” he said at the meeting.
“The task of managing the masses is becoming more and more difficult.”
The residents of Wukan last week tore down the protest banners and removed road blocks set up around the village after talks with Zhu.
The three detained protest leaders were subsequently released and a local government committee tasked with investigating the villagers’ complaints has been dispatched to Wukan.
The Wukan protest followed months of labour unrest in Guangdong, China’s manufacturing heartland, as the country’s export growth slows, forcing factory owners to cut pay and reduce staff.
The unrest has piled pressure on the province’s reformist Communist party secretary, Wang Yang, who is tipped to win promotion to the powerful Standing Committee next year.