Life returns to normal after village clashes

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2009-03-30 15:46

DONGFANG, Hainan -- Life is returning to normal as shops and schools reopened Monday in a south China town after clashes between two feuding villages left one dead and nine injured last Wednesday.

On Monday, 264 students from Baoshang village of Dongfang City in Hainan Province, who previously studied at the Gancheng Middle School, started their classes in the building of the Baoshang village committee.

The Dongfang City Education Bureau set up the new teaching venue with 15 teachers as part of of Gancheng Middle School in an effort to prevent further fights between students from the two villages.

The Gancheng township government also restored normal work Monday. Most of the shops have reopened. Farmers and dealers resumed selling vegetables and fruits.

A fight happened last Wednesday between villagers from Baoshang and Gancheng in Dongfang City. A 32-year-old Baoshang resident named Zhang Ji died after being stabbed in the head and arms. Shops and schools then stopped classes for the sake of safety. The two villages have been feuding for 80 years over land and other interests.

The situation calmed down after more than 1,000 police were sent here after the deadly clash.

Two days before the fight, villagers attacked the Gancheng township government building and police station, to protest at the local government's response to a fight between a student from Gancheng and another from Baoshang, the last straw of the clash.

Police have demanded criminal suspects who attacked government facilities last Monday and took part in fighting surrender. So far, no one has turned themselves in or been arrested.

The government of Dongfang City, which administers Gancheng, has decided to give the family of Zhang Ji a pension of 300,000 yuan ($43,911). The government will also give as yet undecided amounts of money to the injured.