Good news (of sorts). While an investigation is still underway, state news agency Xinhua has determined the scapegoats for the killings in Dongzhou.:

Xinhua has now, two weeks after the incident, the official editon on the shooting at Dongzhou and fortunately they did not try to change bullets into bombs, like local officials wanted to. But many details do not fit with other stories going around.

The story sticks to three casualities (and not twenty as in the stories of the villagers) and eight wounded. Three protesters have been detained and the police commander in charge of the shooting.

New is the accusation that one of those detained Huang Xijun organized the protest out of anger because he was not elected for the village committee.

When he realized that he might lose the election, Huang blew up the ballot box in public with firecrackers, halting the vote, officials said.

He and two accomplices, Huang Xirang and Lin Hanru set up many armed protests since June, using villagers’ anger about the compensation funds for the land being used to build a power plant to incite them, the spokesman said.

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