Shaxi and Zuotan: More Protests, More Cities Disappear From Sina Weibo

On June 27, 2012, the state-sponsored Global Times reported:

Hundreds of residents in Shaxi, in South China's Guangdong Province, yesterday confronted a barrage of police officers during demonstrations outside local government offices.

Police from Shaxi township, in the city of Zhongshan, confirmed the clash in a statement posted on their official Weibo account last night, saying the gathering began on Monday afternoon and lasted until early yesterday morning when the crowd was dispersed by police.

According to the statement, the protest was sparked on Monday afternoon, by the beating of a local elementary school student by a teenager from Chongqing in front of the school, before local security officers from Longshan village tied the teenager up and injured his face while trying to settle the fight.

The screenshots were taken on June 27, and show that between noon and 2:45, Sina Weibo began censoring searches for "Shaxi." (沙溪)

On June 28, 2012, the state-sponsored China Daily reported:

Also on [June 25], officials of Foshan's Zuotan village were interrupted in a meeting by a group of villagers who abducted them and put them in a minibus. The kidnappers allowed no one to send food and water to the officials, who included the head of the village and his deputy.

The two officials were held in the minibus for more than nine hours and were rescued by police officers the next morning.

The incident resulted in the injury of two villagers and damage to a police car. The police said they are not certain why the two officials were kidnapped.

The screenshot shows that a search for "Zuotan" (左滩) on Sina Weibo on June 27 returned no results, just a notice saying "In accordance with relevant laws, regulations, and policies, search results for 'Zuotan' have not been displayed." (根据相关法律法规和政策，“左滩”搜索结果未予显示。).