Police in the southern Chinese province of Guangdong said they had detained around 200 people following weekend riots, which erupted after weeks of attempts by local tea farmers to protest against alleged official corruption.
An employee at the Kengkouju police station in Yinghong township near Yingde city said nearly 200 people had been detained during the unrest, where angry residents rioted through the town on May 24.
Photos posted online showed a smashed and burning police station, rocks littered around the street, and cars on fire, as well as large numbers of security personnel and fire trucks.
The rioting came after Yingde municipal authorities said they had detained Yinghong residents "Li Yujiao and others" for "plotting to gather several hundred persons to petition at the city government office and creating traffic jams on April 29 and May 11 this year."
"By 1 p.m., the crowd turned to attack mode. They threw rocks at three auxiliary policemen who were trying to persuade them to calm down," it said, accusing the protesters of vandalizing a fire truck and destroying government vehicles with petrol bombs.
"Some of them were armed with hoes, sickles, lime powder, bamboo sticks and other weapons, and faced off against the police," the government statement said.
"At 5 p.m., the Yingde police took strong measures against these criminal elements and restored calm and order."
"The township chief threatened to use force to disperse the crowd, but we did not leave," he said.
"At around 1 p.m., riot police began to beat up protesters and three elderly women were injured. We then began to fight back by throwing rocks at riot police."
He said police also began throwing rocks back at the infuriated crowd.
"Protesters were so furious that they began to smash police vehicles and set them on fire. We did not leave until 5 p.m. when more than 1,000 riot police were brought in to disperse the crowd by beating anyone they encountered regardless of their age."
"Those who didn’t get a chance to leave the scene were detained," Zhou said.
Another witness who declined to be named said police used dogs to chase and attack protesters.
"I was scared to death as thousands of police began to beat up protesters. They even unleashed their dogs to attack protesters who either ran up nearby hills or jumped into the river."
"I have lost contact with many of them," he added.

The initial petitioners were tea farmers from the region who were sent back to China during the Vietnam war in the 1970s, and who say they have suffered economic discrimination ever since.
They accuse local officials of embezzling public money, but their petitions have not so far been accepted by official complaints offices.