Work team set up to handle situation in Wukan

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The Guangdong provincial government set up a special work team to deal with the events in Wukan, a village overwhelmed with demonstrators for a land dispute.

The local government on Tuesday also promised to restore stability as soon as possible to the village, said Zhu Mingguo, deputy-secretary of Guangdong provincial committee of Communist Party of China as well as the head of the team.

The major demands of the Wukan villagers were reasonable. There were some mistakes in the work of the grassroots party committees and government organizations, Zhu said.

On Sept. 21 and 22, some villagers in Wukan vented their anger against village authorities over issues related to land use, financing and the election of local officials, and on Nov. 21 and 22, large-scale protests occurred in the village. Another gathering happened on Dec. 11 when Xue Jinbo, who was suspected of leading villagers to demonstrate in Wukan in November, died suddenly in police custody.

Zhu said the work team consists of branch teams established to handle the issues of land use, financing and the election of local officials, respectively, and is expected to start working soon.

Each branch team is required to publish phone numbers which villagers can use to contact them and be ready to listen to villagers round the clock, Zhu said.

Zhu urged the team to determine the villagers' exact demands and respond to, or deal with, reasonable requirements. Corruption should be severely punished and the officials should do good and real things for the villagers, Zhu said.

Zhu promised that the work team will be people-oriented, open and transparent, and in accordance with the laws, and it attaches great importance to public opinion.

The team will spare no efforts in comforting Xue's family, and the team's work will be publicized via media, Zhu said.

(Xinhua contributed to the story)