Teen killed in toll station riot

The riot, which broke out last Wednesday in Xianqiao town in Guangdong province but was not reported in major Chinese media, marked the latest in a series of incidents of social unrest in China.

The protest erupted following a quarrel between a local woman on a motorcycle and staff at the Yonghua Bridge toll station, which had long been unpopular with residents.

"The toll staff refused to let her through because she had only one yuan, not enough to pay the two-yuan (24 US cents) toll," a woman who witnessed the riot told AFP.

"When she called her husband to bring money, the toll workers thought she was calling other villagers for backup and slapped her."

The toll booth, which was built seven years ago, was supposed to stop charging last year. The local government angered residents by not only continuing to charge but asking them to donate money to dismantle the station.

Villagers and migrant workers from nearby factories surrounded the toll station, looted and torched the building, residents said.

"There were some 20,000 to 30,000 nearby residents and passers-by who watched," said resident Li Hongxiao.

"All three firefighting brigades in Jieyang responded," said a local firefighter.

He refused to divulge details, but local residents said when the fire engines arrived to put out the blaze, one of them knocked over and killed an 18-year-old teenager.

The crowd pelted the fire engines and firefighters with stones before setting the vehicles ablaze, residents said.

Authorities dispatched more than 1,000 public security officers, including anti-riot police, but they were not able to disperse the crowd until after midnight.

"They sprayed water at the crowd with water hoses. That didn't work so police later fired tear gas to disperse the villagers," said another resident named Li.

Officers also used electric batons to beat rioters and fired gunshots into the air, said the woman who requested anonymity.

Several villagers were injured, residents said, but officials refused to say how many.

Jieyang police arrested 17 people and have ordered all others involved in to turn themselves in by Tuesday, Jieyang state-run media reported.

"Anyone who fails to turn himself in by the required deadline or continues to carry out illegal criminal activities will be firmly sought out and arrested by public security organs and severely punished according to the law," said a notice issued by the Jieyang Public Security Department.