Chinese authorities admitted yesterday that paramilitary forces had shot dead protesting villagers last week, and said the commander involved had been arrested.
The arrest came five days after a riot in Dongzhou, a coastal village in southern China, that was put down with the most lethal force known to have been used by officials since the 1989 Beijing massacre.
Witnesses said up to 20 people had died in Dongzhou, while officials put the death toll in single figures. The Guangdong provincial government said the paramilitary commander had committed fatal errors. "His wrong actions caused deaths and injuries," it said in a statement. "Investigative organs have taken the step of detaining him according to law."
The name and rank of the officer were not disclosed, nor were there any details of charges. But the public admission that a senior official used excessive force to restore order is a politically significant step towards accountability.
It may also indicate a clash between different levels of government. The Guangdong announcement contradicted an earlier statement by the authorities in nearby Shanwei town, who blamed the riot and its consequences on protest leaders.
Local villages have been protesting for weeks against the construction of a coal-fired power plant, which they say is being built on communal land for which they have not been adequately compensated. In the first official acknowledgement of the incident, the Shanwei authority said police had been forced to shoot because the demonstrators had attacked them.
"Over 170 armed villagers attacked with knives, steel spears, sticks, dynamite powder, bottles filled with petrol and fishing detonators," it said. "Police were forced to open fire in alarm. In the chaos, three villagers died, eight were injured with three of them fatally injured."
It was unclear whether this meant three or six people had died.
A statement by the local government said the killings would be investigated, but rather than blame the officers who pulled the trigger or gave the order to fire, it accused three local men of stirring up unrest, adding: "They must shoulder the legal responsibility for what happened."
The report, which was carried by the state-run Xinhua news agency, made no mention of claims by villagers that up to 20 people were killed, some of whom were said to have been chased and executed. Locals quoted in the Hong Kong and foreign media said bodies were left in the street and in the sea. Shots were reported many hours after the initial clash.
Since the incident, Dongzhou has been under police curfew, with locals being warned not to leave their homes. Officials have put up posters and relayed loudspeaker slogans seeking to reassure locals with messages such as "People's armed police are for the people" and "Trust the authorities to handle this correctly".
Earlier, villagers hung up banners appealing to the central government to investigate their complaints against local officials. These were reportedly torn down.
"We were terrified. We all stayed inside," a farmer named Chen told the Associated Press news agency. "Even now, we all stay indoors after it gets dark."
At the Shanwei People's hospital, an injured man who was interviewed by a Hong Kong television station after the riot has been placed in police custody. Family members are not allowed to visit him,
According to the South China Morning Post newspaper in Hong Kong, local officials have visited the families of the victims and offered 2,000 yuan (about £140) in condolence money. This was seen as an attempt to hush up the killings.
Although the level of violence is unusual, protests over land and pollution have become increasingly common in China, and officials are struggling to cope.
The handling of such protests has highlighted a contradiction between Beijing's aims of promoting a harmonious society and the tendency of local authorities to seize land for development, cover up wrongdoing and clamp down ruthlessly on any threat to their authority.
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Chinese security forces have sealed off a village where police have allegedly shot and killed up to 20 people, in what has been touted as the most lethal use of force by authorities since the Tiananmen Square massacre.

Days after reports of the shooting leaked out, Beijing has confirmed that police had opened fire last Tuesday on villagers protesting against land seizures. According to government statements, three people had been shot dead as police quelled a demonstration. The incident came after months of protest against the building of a power station, which villagers say was on stolen land. 

Authorities have arrested the police commander accused of authorising the shootings. Hundreds of police have blocked roads into Dongzhou village, part of Shanwei city in Guangdong province near Hong Kong. 

Villagers claim that up to 20 people died in the clash. They say 300 people have been arrested for protesting in recent months. Last Tuesday's demonstration was to demand the release of three more who had been detained.

A government statement, released after a four-day news blackout, said the villagers attacked police with sticks, knives and Molotov cocktails. "Police were forced to open fire in alarm," it said. "In the chaos, three villagers died, eight were injured, three of them seriously."

However, villagers claimed that the protest was peaceful and, at most, only fireworks had been thrown into the air. One teenager said: "We didn't expect the police to open fire. They threw tear gas first and then they shot."

According to newspapers in Hong Kong, residents say that police are going from house to house offering money to take away the bodies of those who died, in order to reduce the visible death count.

Local government officials say the killings will be investigated, but rather than blame the officers who pulled the trigger or gave the order to fire, it accused three local men of stirring up unrest, adding: "They must shoulder the legal responsibility for what happened."

The report, which was carried by the state-run Xinhua news agency, made no mention of claims by villagers that up to 20 people were killed, some of whom were said to have been chased and executed. 

Locals quoted in the Hong Kong and foreign media said bodies were left in the street and in the sea. Shots were reported many hours after the initial clash.