Police reveal investigation into worker-villager clash

KUNMING - An initial report detailing a clash between construction workers and villagers which has left eight people dead was released by the Kunming government in southwest China on Thursday.

Eight killed in China worker-villager clash

Villagers of Fuyou village have been engaged in disputes with construction workers at a building site in Jincheng township, Jinning county for several months over compensation for the land being used in the project.

In May, tensions boiled over forcing the project, being built by the Pan Asia Industrial Logistics Center, to shut down.

On October 14, construction resumed with thousands of workers returning to work. After construction continued, villagers kidnapped eight workers who were having an early morning breakfast in the village.

Later, hundreds of villagers raided the construction site and fought with workers. During the clash, villagers threw self-made explosives into the crowd and set the kidnapped workers, who had been bound and doused in gasoline, alight.

Six construction workers and two villagers were killed in the scuffle, while 18 others were injured. Ten people are still hospitalized with one in critical condition.

Further investigation into the cause of the clash is underway.