A migrant worker severely injured when a dispute over unpaid
salaries turned violent in south China's Guangdong Province died in
hospital late on Tuesday, according to the local government.
Lei Mingzhong, a migrant worker from southwest China's Chongqing
Municipality, died at 10:30 PM. Local government officials had
visited the hospital and consoled Lei's family when Lei was
fighting for his life.
Lei, the most seriously injured in the conflict and supported by
a pacemaker and breathing apparatus, had been reported to be "brain
dead".
The government of Heyuan city, where the conflict occurred, held
a press conference on Tuesday to say the incident had been
identified as "a violent conflict triggered by a dispute over
economic contracts", rather than a mass assault on migrant
workers.
Huang Juping, a government spokesperson, said about 100 migrant
workers were incited by their Shenzhen-based employer, Qiutian
Construction Co., to ask for a rise from Fuyuan Hydropower
Development Co., the proprietor of the hydropower station where
they were working.
Qiutian Co. said it had held back workers' pay for four months
because Fuyuan refused to compensate it for losses suffered when
some of the company's equipment and tools were washed away in flash
floods last summer.
The migrant workers, headed by Qiu Haodi, a Qiutian Co. manager,
started to dismantle installations at the power station after their
request was turned down, when "gangsters" armed with spades, axes
and steel pipes attacked them.
The workers had been organized to petition the local government
on Friday afternoon. After several hours of government mediation,
they returned home.
Fuyuan had agreed to pay the medical costs of the injured
workers. Construction of the hydropower station would be suspended
until all "divergences" had been solved between the two
companies.
An investigation into the conflict is still underway.
(Xinhua News Agency July 4, 2007)