Dongzhou (AsiaNews/Scmp) - Hundreds of paramilitary police continued to guard a Guangdong village yesterday as evidence emerged of the deaths of villagers in the violent suppression of a riot. While police hunted for those involved in Tuesday's riot in Dongzhou village, Shanwei city, families of some victims hid the bodies of their loved ones, fearing the authorities would take them in a bid to cover up the deaths.

Villagers say dozens of people were killed or injured when police opened fire on protesters. Shanwei and provincial officials, meanwhile, have either denied the shooting happened or declined to comment.

The massive police presence yesterday suggested that tensions are still running high in the village.

Several hundred police - carrying shields but apparently not armed - guarded the main entries to the village and patrolled the streets. Officers carrying photos of villagers involved in the riots were on the lookout for suspects trying to leave the village and checked the identity of anyone entering. All outsiders were barred from entry. Half-a-dozen armoured personnel carriers and vehicles with water cannon were deployed across the village and near the site of Tuesday's clash.

Villagers had been protesting against the construction of a power plant in the village, complaining that their land was taken away without adequate compensation. In a showdown on Tuesday, hundreds of armed police battled with the protesting villagers, who fought back with crudely made Molotov cocktails. Villagers said police then opened fire on the crowd.

Liu Jingmao, a vice-director of the Shanwei Propaganda Department, said yesterday the city government would give a public account of what happened but refused to confirm that villagers had been shot dead by police.

But villagers are afraid of a cover-up. "We fear they are attempting to destroy all the evidence because they insist so far that no one has been killed," one said.

Another villager whose relative, 31-year-old Wei Jin, was killed in the shooting, said local officials had offered the family hush money if they surrended Wei's body.

"They offered us a sum but said we would have to give up the body," the villager said. "We are not going to agree."

Other villagers remain unaccounted for and families fear they are victims of Tuesday's confrontation. Dozens of women yesterday knelt in front of policemen at the clash site, begging for the bodies of their husbands or sons.

The clash in Dongzhou was not reported in any mainland media and local hospitals refused to say if they had received any injured.

Rumours circulated in the village yesterday that a vice-director of the local public security bureau had been suspended and that senior provincial leaders had arrived to investigate.

On Thursday, Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang declined to confirm the Dongzhou incident but said the government would investigate and deal with matters in accordance with the law.