Migrant worker killed chasing unpaid salary

Police in Guangdong province have detained four suspects and launched a hunt for three others who were allegedly involved in attacking a group of unpaid migrant workers, killing one of them, earlier this month.

After posting an online wanted notice for the three fugitives, police in Yingde confirmed on Thursday that the alleged assailants were all from the No 15 Bureau of the China Railway Construction Corp, contractor for the Guangzhou-Lechang Expressway Construction Project.

The contractor had employed the migrant workers since September.

The man who was killed has been identified as Zhao Zhiming. He was among the 21 migrant workers attacked by dozens of assailants wielding knives and iron bars on a street about 10 minutes' walk from the construction project office on March 6.

A police investigation has found that the workers were dismissed by the employer without payment after the Spring Festival holiday in February. They were refused payment again at the construction site office on March 6, and a short while later they were attacked by assailants who drove three vehicles to chase them down the road.

Zhao Xinbiao, uncle of the dead man, said the contractor owed his nephew 8,000 yuan ($1,287) in salary. The group of migrant workers together claimed 140,000 yuan in unpaid salary.

Zhao said the workers had nothing personal against Li Yukun, the man alleged to have led the attack against the unarmed workers.

Detectives with the Yingde Bureau of Public Security confirmed that Li, a resident of Yingde, was the material contractor for the construction project.

A deputy manager of the project, Zhao Ping, denied that the project office was involved in inciting Li and others to attack the workers. But he admitted the office was responsible for "improper management" of the construction project.