On Thursday afternoon, a boy was stabbed to death during a dispute with four other students, who were detained on Thursday evening.

The incident occurred last Friday after the parents of the killed boy went to the school to ask for an investigation into their son's death, it said.

After the parents were taken away to discuss how the case should be handled, relatives and other parents marched on the Youyang county government offices, where the crowds swelled to around 3,000 people, it said.

Authorities called in 600 police to disperse the crowd and the protests ended early Saturday morning, it said.

The boy's parents will be given 60,000 yuan (about 7,900 U.S. dollars) in compensation by the parents of the four students.