China police clash with protesters carrying corpse

BEIJING, June 18 (Reuters) Riot police clashed with protesters in southwest China last month to stop them from marching on the government carrying the corpse of a teenage student killed by ruffians, local residents said.

Mainstream state media have not reported the May 17 clash in Jiulong town, Guang'an city - the birthplace of late paramount leader Deng Xiaoping - in Sichuan province.

Students of Jiulong High School boycotted classes and joined town residents who took to the streets to demand the arrest of two men suspected of killing 15-year-old high student Wang Qiang on May 13, the Hong Kong-based Information Centre for Human Rights and Democracy said.

An uncle of one of the suspects was the Jiulong police chief and protected the pair, the centre said.

Up to 15 protesters were injured in the clash and were rushed to the town hospital, a doctor said by telephone, requesting anonymity.

The thugs stabbed the victim to death after he refused to pay extortion money, a schoolteacher told Reuters.

Local authorities briefly suspended telephone links to prevent local residents from alerting the outside world to the clash, the centre said.

About 30 gang members protected by local police had been rounded up after President Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao inquired about the case, the group said.

The Jiulong police chief and five other officials had been taken in for questioning, it said, without giving details.

A rising number of protests nationwide has been blamed on a widening wealth gap, corruption, land grabs and pollution.

Last November, about 2,000 people protested outside a hospital in Guang'an, suspecting it of refusing to treat a three-year-old boy who died after mistakenly drinking pesticide.

REUTERS RN RK1118