Residents in a southern Chinese village have called off protests over a land dispute and a suspicious death after senior officials promised to meet their demands and said no one would be arrested.

Villagers in Wukan in Guangdong Province had been calling for the release of their representatives and the return of the body of a man who died in police custody.

Yesterday, they took down protest banners and canceled plans for a march to government offices after officials agreed to release four detained villagers and to re-examine Xue Jinbo's death.

Guangdong's Deputy Communist Party Secretary Zhu Mingguo told protest leader Yang Semao yesterday that four villagers being held by police would be released over the next few days. Zhu also told Yang and another village representative that the government would buy back 27 hectares of farmland that had been sold to a developer and return it to the villagers, according the Shanwei City government's official website.

In a further sign tensions were easing, police withdrew on Tuesday night from road checkpoints they had set up, while villagers removed tree trunks they had used to block the road.

Zhu told villagers at a meeting on Tuesday that their aggressive behavior in the protests was "understandable and forgivable" and the police and government would not arrest any of them or hold them responsible for riots, according to the city government's website.

Villagers who had taken part in damaging public property would be forgiven if they repented their behavior, said Zhu.

He called the protesters' demands "legal and reasonable" and said investigations would be carried out into village officials and illegal land seizures to restore Wukan's social order.

The Southern Daily reported that Shanwei government officials negotiated with 500-plus representatives of Wukan protesters on Monday, promising to give back land taken from villagers.

Xue Chang, the village's Communist Party chief, and Chen Shunyi, director of the village committee office, have been detained for investigation by local discipline watchdogs following protesters' calls for investigations into village officials and government dealings, the newspaper said.

The unrest which began in September came to a head last week with protesters demanding on Saturday that the government release Xue's body.

He is alleged to have taken part in a riot after police moved to quell protests in the village, where development has consumed swathes of rice paddies.

Local authorities said Xue died of a heart attack and that his body had shown no signs of violence. But relatives allowed to view the body said it bore signs of abuse, including blood, bruises and a broken thumb.

According to previous reports, protesters clashed with police on September 22 with thousands of villagers overturning and damaging at least six police vehicles. There were several outbursts of violence in the same month.

Meanwhile, in a separate protest in the province, construction of a coal-fired power plant has been suspended by the government in Haimen Town after residents claimed it would pollute the environment.

The Shantou Daily reported that hundreds of residents took part in a protest and block traffic in the town on Tuesday.

The protesters gathered at the entrance and exit of an expressway, causing heavy traffic jams, the newspaper said.

The Shantou City government decided to suspend construction of the plant after negotiating with the protesters and the expressway was open again by 4pm, the newspaper said.

However, it said city government had warned residents to complain and solve problems in legal ways, and said those who illegally started or took part in riots would be punished.

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