Warnings, jailings reported in China protest deaths

BEIJING, May 24 (Reuters) Chinese city officials have received ''serious warnings'' and six villagers were jailed after police shot and killed people protesting against the building of a wind farm in southern Guangdong province in December, media reports said today.

At least three people died and eight were wounded in Dongzhou village, part of Guangdong's Shanwei city, when police shot villagers protesting against a lack of compensation for land lost to a wind power plant, government officials had said.

Villagers put the number of dead as high as 20.

''The relevant people who did not do their jobs well and were responsible for the serious incident of lawlessness that happened last December have already been gravely disciplined,'' China's official Xinhua news agency said on its Web site (www.xinhuanet.com).

''The Disciplinary and Supervision Bodies had made the decision to give the deputy Communist Party chief of the city, Liu Jinsheng, ... and the deputy police chief, Wu Sheng, serious warnings,'' it said.

The Washington-based network Radio Free Asia reported that at least six villagers received jail sentences of between three and seven years in the incident.

''The trial began on May 22, and today, the 24th, all of them received their sentences,'' RFA's Mandarin service quoted a relative of jailed villager Lin Hanru as saying.

Lin and Huang Xijun each got a five year sentence, while Huang Xirang was jailed for seven years, RFA said in a statement quoting the US-supported agency's broadcast from Hong Kong.

At least three others got three-year terms, RFA added.

Xinhua said other officials included the deputy mayor, city police chief and head of the city's construction bureau had received mere warnings.

The Xinhua report stuck by the official line that the unrest was caused by what it called a small group of lawbreakers misleading the unwitting masses.

Previous reports said the deputy police chief had been sacked and placed under ''criminal detention'' for the shooting.

Xinhua gave no further details about the detentions or possible charges.

China is grappling with growing social unrest, fueled by disputes over land rights, corruption and a growing gap between rich and poor.

REUTERS DH RN0034