Shi Ting (’03) reports for the South China Morning post on the quashing of a protest over rising bus fares in the Hunan Province town of Zhushan. Witnesses say one student was killed in the clash between farmers and police, a charge state-run media have denied.

An uneasy calm has returned to a village in Hunan province that has been the scene of mass rioting after more troops were brought in to maintain order and the local government intervened to cut bus fees after public pressure, witnesses said.

Armed vehicles were moved in from the adjacent Guangzhou Military Region, which covers Hunan, and troops were stationed along the main streets of Zhushan village, in Yongzhou, where more than 20,000 farmers clashed with local police over a controversial increase in transport fees.

Witnesses said local authorities were tracking down the organisers of the protest, and scores of “violent villagers” who were believed to have smashed and burned at least seven police cars and nine buses.

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