Weekend riots over motorcyclist settled

(China Daily)
Updated: 2008-11-10 07:11

SHENZHEN -- A riot that broke out over the weekend following the death of a motorcyclist in the southern boomtown of Zhenzhen has been resolved, after the local authorities agreed to provide a compensation of 200,000 yuan ($29,000) to the victim's family, the Xinhua news agency reported on Saturday.

The Bao'an district government of Shenzhen reached an agreement with the family of Li Guochao, who died on Friday afternoon when he reportedly struck a lamppost after trying to break through a checkpoint set up to catch unlicensed vehicles.

The authorities will give Li's family the specified amount in advance and decide on further compensation based on results of investigations into the case, Xinhua reported.

The government also promised the family that no autopsy would be made on Li without their attendance.

According to a preliminary investigation, Li was driving an unlicensed motorcycle with a passenger behind when he was stopped at a traffic checkpoint on Baoshi East Road on Friday morning.

The passenger dismounted, after which Li sped past the checkpoint. A worker at the checkpoint surnamed Lai from the sub-district office of Shiyan crossed the guardrail in the middle of the road and tried to block Li, who reportedly ignored him.

Lai then apparently hurled his intercom phone at Li, who lost control of his motorcycle, crashed into a lamppost and sustained serious injuries. Lai is under police detention.

Other staff at the office called police and rushed Li to a hospital, but he died during treatment at about 12:30 pm, police said.

There were no police officers at the checkpoint at the time of the incident, police said. The nearest officer was a traffic policeman on duty 300 m away.

However, Li's family believed that the checkpoint had been organized by the Shiyan traffic police detachment. They brought more than 30 people to the police detachment at about 1 pm and blocked its gate.

At 2:30 pm, the relatives of the dead motorcyclist reportedly carried Li's body to the police station, smashed property and set off firecrackers. By 5 pm, the crowd at the station had grown to 400, with about 2,000 others looking on. People threw stones and set a police car alight.

Officials of Bao'an district and the city government were summoned to deal with the situation. The public security bureau said that throughout incident, the police had shown restraint. The bureau said the crowd had dispersed by 2 am on Saturday.