Chinese media on Thursday criticised local officials in the country's south for letting a protest over land seizures get out of hand and urged authorities around the country to "put the public first".

Residents of Wukan village in Guangdong province lived under police blockade for more than a week after driving out local Communist party leaders they say have been stealing their land for years.

The stand-off ended Wednesday after provincial authorities held talks with the villagers and agreed to investigate their complaints, free three detained residents and release the body of another who died in police custody.

The People's Daily, the mouthpiece of the ruling Communist party, said local authorities had erred by failing to "heed the reasonable demands of villagers" which had allowed a "reasonable petition to escalate into excessive actions".

The newspaper's commentary, however, heaped praise on the later efforts of the provincial authorities whose "full acknowledgement that most of the people's demands were reasonable" had helped to resolve the crisis.

An editorial in the Global Times called on local governments around China to "take every quarrel from the people seriously and show a responsible attitude towards people's demands", saying such disputes were likely to increase.

"Putting the public first and helping them fulfil reasonable interests should be the aim of local government officials," the newspaper said.

The decision to send senior provincial leaders to deal with a village dispute signals the level of concern in Guangdong over the rare revolt in Wukan, which made world headlines.

It came as a protest in the town of Haimen, also in Guangdong, turned violent for a second straight day on Wednesday when police fired tear-gas and beat residents protesting against a power plant they say is a health hazard.

Officials overseeing Haimen said in a statement late Tuesday they would suspend the power station project and refer the case to "supervisory authorities".

But protesters were either unaware of the suspension or sceptical about the government's intentions and have continued to take to the streets.

China's Communist party is preparing for a once-in-a-decade transition of power that begins next year, and leaders are eager to keep a lid on social unrest which they admit poses a major threat to their hold on power.

The People's Daily commentary indicates the protest may not jeopardize the expected promotion next year of Guangdong's reformist Communist party secretary, Wang Yang, to the national Standing Committee.

China police arrest protesters in south: witnesses
Haimen, China (AFP) Dec 22, 2011 - Police have begun arresting protesters in southern China after two days of violent clashes, witnesses said Thursday, as the local government warned against further "illegal" demonstrations.

Plainclothes police on Thursday arrested at least three people in Haimen, a town in Guangdong province where residents have been protesting against the expansion of a power plant they say is damaging their health, witnesses said.

"There are lots of plainclothes police officers on the street and the government has started to arrest people," a resident surnamed Zheng told AFP by telephone from Haimen.

"We don't dare go outside, but I heard a small group of people will still go to the highway today," he said, referring to the road where witnesses said police fired tear gas and beat demonstrators on Tuesday and Wednesday.

An AFP reporter in Haimen said the town was calm on Thursday. A large group of residents had gathered at a service station near the highway that was the scene of violent clashes on Wednesday, but they were not protesting.

Despite official efforts to block news of the unrest, residents posted warnings on weibo -- the Chinese version of Twitter -- telling demonstrators not to return to the highway because it was too dangerous.

"Martial law is in effect in the area around Deshengmen. The arrests have started. Please avoid coming here. Serious warning!," a web user said.

A witness to the Wednesday riots told AFP he saw protesters throwing rocks at police who responded by firing tear gas.

"Young men were throwing stones at the police from a long distance, about 200 metres, when the tear gas came over and over. We were all crying," he said by telephone.

Hong Kong media showed photographs from Wednesday of a police officer with a bloody head injury and an overturned police car surrounded by bricks.

The government of Shantou, which oversees Haimen, said the highway would reopen later Thursday and warned that detained protesters would be held accountable if the "illegal" demonstrations continued, state television reported.

Witnesses told AFP on Tuesday that a 15-year-old boy and a middle-aged woman had been killed in the clashes with police, although this could not be independently confirmed.

Oriental TV, a Hong Kong-based television station, said six residents had died and nearly 200 were injured in Tuesday's violent confrontation, which led local authorities to announce the suspension of a plan to expand the plant.

Local government officials declined to comment when contacted by AFP.