Chinese Peasants Killed

According to Pravda (see links) 20 Chinese peasants were killed whilst protesting against the removal of their land. Apparently the order was given to open fire on the protestors by an official. Clearly such action is reprehensible in any modern country and what makes this even more worrying is the increasing strength of the Chinese state. Around 74,000 protests were held last year but there were no fatalities. This is believed to be the first such occurence of the army opening fire on protestors since Tiananmen Square in 1989.