Sad, gruesome first-hand account by witness/journalist Benjamin Joffe-Walt of a Chinese democracy activist being lynched by a mob.
They waved and smiled, filming us as we drove off. And this is all I can say about the story of Mr Lu because I never saw Taishi from the inside and cannot tell you how it looks, what the people say, how the air feels.
What I can tell you is that what’s going on in Taishi is perhaps the most significant grassroots social movement China has seen since the Cultural Revolution, a rural revolt against corruption, against deterioration of healthcare, against the illegal sale of farmland, and broadly against urban capitalism that has reaped no benefits for these farmers.
More on Taishi village here. Actually, a better wrapup is here. Actually, the best source is here. The weblogger/translator believes that foreign correspondents deserve some of the blame for not adequately protecting their translators/guides. He writes:
Lu Banglie is an activist with local contacts in Taishi village. He facilitated the work of Tim Johnson without pay, in the belief that international publicity will help to bring the cause of the villagers to the attention of the central government and the international community and that may help the villagers. In so doing, Lu took considerable personal risks.