Hundreds of Chinese protesters were arrested today on suspicion of setting fire to police and government buildings in a violent outburst over an apparent cover-up over a teenage girl’s death in the southwest of the country.

Paramilitary police swarmed over Weng’an, a town in hilly Guizhou province, rounding up suspected protesters using YouTube footage of Saturday’s unrest.

Triggering the unrest was the alleged rape and murder of a 15-year-old high school student. Investigators initially questioned three young men, two of whom had strong “guangxi” – local connections – one reportedly being the son of the deputy mayor and the other related to police officials.

When the three men were released without charge and the police dismissed the death as a suicide, outrage erupted. Her uncle, a popular schoolteacher in the community, was reportedly beaten when he attempted to complain to the authorities.

Witnesses said that one person had been killed in the riots, which saw the deployment of over 1,500 police. Some 10,000 people had taken to the streets in protest, the Hong Kong-based Information Center for Human Rights and Democracy said, and around 150 had been injured in the clashes. The Communist Party’s local headquarters were badly damaged.

By midday today, police had detained some 300 protesters accused of taking part in the violence, the human rights organisation said. Some suspects were sent straight to detention centres.

Liu Zhongmin, a teacher at the No. 3 Middle School in Weng’an County, where the girl studied, said the county’s medical expert had recorded a verdict of drowning. Further investigations by more senior medical experts were ongoing but residents feared the conclusion would be the same, he said.

“The girl’s teacher is now explaining the whole situation to her fellow students, trying to keep them calm,” he added.

In the aftermath of the violence, official vehicles patrolled Weng’an’s streets with loudspeakers ordering rioters to turn themselves in. Local television stations also broadcast warnings to surrender, residents said.

The riots in Weng’an – a usually tranquil town set in a valley of terraced rice and vegetable fields about three hours from the provincial capital of Guiyang – are the latest in a series of violent protests that have broken out across the country in recent years as citizens vent anger over official corruption, land confiscation and a growing gap between the rich and poor.

They are a great source of embarrassment to the ruling Communist Party, which has made building what it calls a “harmonious society” a priority and is determined to showcase itself as a model of peace and stability at the Beijing Olympics in August.

The regime has launched a nationwide crackdown on public dissent ahead of the August 8 opening ceremony, ordering local officials to halt petition campaigns by disgruntled citizens and to prevent "mass incidents", such as riots and demonstrations, according to state media.

"The Beijing Olympics are approaching and properly carrying out petition and stability work, protecting social harmony and stability, and ensuring the Beijing Olympics go safely and smoothly has become a tough battle that every department at every level must win," said one report on Saturday’s stability conference.

"Now we are entering a state of war," said the report on a local government website in the eastern province of Zhejiang

While the internet was today buzzing with stories of the girl’s plight and the crackdown on protesters, official media offered only an expurgated version of events.

A report in the Guizhou Daily said that a few “unlawful” elements had incited others to “smash and burn”, while the state-run Xinhua news agency said that people “who did not know the exact context of what had happened” had instigated trouble, immediately quelled by the authorities.

Telephones were not answered today at the Weng’an public security bureau and county government office. A male employee at Qiannan prefecture’s public security bureau, which oversees Weng’an, said the investigation into the student’s death was still under way. He refused to give his name or position.

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