Two officials have been detained in central China after 1,500 protesters clashed with riot squads following the alleged death in police custody of a local legislator, state press said Saturday.

Two high level officials implicated in the June 4 death of Ran Jianxin, 49, -- who had opposed a local government land grab -- have been taken into police custody in Lichuan city, Hubei province, the Global Times said.

Ran's death prompted more than 1,500 people to gather in front of government offices Thursday, throwing bottles and objects at police and breaking down the gate to the compound, the government said in a statement posted Friday on its website.

"In order to prevent the situation from deteriorating, public security organs quickly adopted measures in accordance with the law to appropriately handle this mass incident," the statement said in language usually used to refer to the use of force.

Photos of the unrest posted online showed police beating and scuffling with protesters while a large riot squad dressed in military helmets and fatigues lined up inside the gates of the government compound.

China sees thousands of protests and other public disturbances each year, often linked to anger over official corruption, government abuses and the illegal seizure of land for development.

Such incidents have been prominent in recent weeks with ethnic Mongols in north China protesting against the encroachment of grasslands by mining concerns, while in late May a disgruntled man killed four in revenge bombings over property confiscation in the south of the country.

The death of detainees while in police custody is also a common cause of anger, especially if police are perceived to be using torture to extract forced confessions.

According to reports, Ran was detained on the order of higher-ups after he opposed a government-backed land grab in the city.

Police were interrogating him over alleged bribery when he died, they said.

Besides the two officials detained in connection with Ran's death, a county prosecutor has resigned and a deputy director of the Lichuan Communist Party committee was removed from his post, the Global Times said.

earlier related report
China quake activist freed from prison: wife
Beijing (AFP) June 10, 2011 - A prominent Chinese dissident who campaigned for the parents of children killed in the 2008 Sichuan earthquake was released from prison Friday after serving a three-year term, his wife told AFP.

Huang Qi, who is in his late 40s, was arrested in June 2008 in Chengdu city after spearheading efforts to investigate school collapses in the massive May 12 quake that left more than 87,000 people dead or missing.

In November 2009, Huang was convicted on state secret charges and sentenced to three years in prison.

"He has been released. The police escorted him home to his mother's house," Huang's wife Zeng Li told AFP by phone.

"A lot of friends, activists and people he used to help have gathered to welcome him."

Zeng said she was unable to attend Huang's homecoming due to a back ailment that has left her unable to walk, but she spoke with her husband briefly by phone from her parents' house.

Repeated calls to the home of Huang's mother rang busy.

Zeng said it was unclear if police would place Huang under house arrest and restrict his movements, as has been the case for many high-profile activists released from prison in recent months.

Huang was previously jailed from 2000 to 2005 for "inciting subversion."

In the 1990s, he set up a website aimed at helping locate missing people in China, including those unaccounted for following the crackdown on the 1989 Tiananmen mass pro-democracy protests.

Soon after he started focusing on numerous human rights issues and was one of the first activists to began probing the Sichuan quake school collapses, amid accusations that official corruption left many schools poorly constructed.

Following Huang's arrest, prominent Chinese artist Ai Weiwei took up the efforts to register and record the circumstances of the collapses despite government efforts to curb such activism.

Ai disappeared into police custody in April this year and is under investigation for economic crimes, the government has said.

The government subsequently reported 5,335 children killed in school collapses during the earthquake, but has refused to publish findings from a promised investigation into the construction quality of the schools.

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