Villagers set fire to a police station and a government office in southwest China to protest an official ruling on a student's death, state media and a villager said Sunday.
The violence erupted Saturday afternoon in Weng'an, a county in Guizhou province, the official Xinhua News Agency said. Residents also torched office buildings and some cars.
The report said the people were angry over a ruling on how a student died but it did not provide details on what the official finding was or how the girl died.
Headlines on Chinese Internet bulletin boards said the girl had been raped and murdered, but the postings could not be opened, an indication the items were considered sensitive and had been removed. It is common for authorities in China to censor online content as a way to control the flow of information.
"Some people who did not know about the exact context of what had happened were instigated to mob the police station and the office buildings of the county government and Communist Party committee," Xinhua said.
The report did not say if anyone was injured or arrested.
Telephones at county and provincial government and police offices either rang busy or unanswered on Sunday.
Violent incidents have broken out across the country in recent years as citizens vent anger over official corruption, land confiscations and a growing gap between the rich and poor.
They have been an embarrassment to the Communist leadership who has made building what it calls a "harmonious society" a priority.
A villager who would give only her surname, Shu, confirmed that a disturbance occurred Saturday but said she did not leave her home.
"I saw a lot of people on the streets. Today, there are fewer people," she said before hurriedly hanging up the telephone.
Xinhua said order was restored early Sunday.q