Relatives of a farmer who drowned in the Yellow River on Thursday went on the rampage in Fugu county of Shaanxi province on Saturday and Sunday, clashing with police and damaging their cars, the Xi'an Evening News reported yesterday.

He Liqi was carrying people on a tractor and had hidden its license plate, and when police stopped him for breaking traffic rules, he jumped into the river.

After his body was retrieved two days later, his relatives attacked police and blocked a road twice. They damaged a civilian's car too.

Seven of the rioters have been detained.

(China Daily July 8, 2008)