Residents of a southern Chinese village that has become a flashpoint for anger over government land grabs vowed Wednesday to continue protesting despite a six-day police blockade.

The village of Wukan in Guangdong province -- the scene of violent clashes with officials in September -- has been under siege since last Thursday, and residents say food and water supplies are now running low.

But they are determined to continue their fight for justice over community land they say was seized by corrupt officials, particularly after the death on Sunday in police custody of a village leader.

Xue Jinbo, who was accused of being among the leaders of the September riots, died Sunday after suffering what authorities said was a cardiac arrest. Villagers say they believe he was beaten to death.

Land grabs have become a hugely contentious issue in China, where authorities are accused of colluding with developers in lucrative real estate deals that have become an important source of government revenue.

Police in riot gear and carrying tear gas canisters were Wednesday blocking entry to the fishing village on China's south coast, which has around 13,000 inhabitants.

Local residents contacted by telephone told AFP Internet connections had been cut and only a handful of people had been allowed in or out since the blockade began last Thursday.

"I estimate there are more than 1,000 police here, and the number is definitely growing," said one villager whose name AFP has withheld for his safety.

"All the entrances are blocked and only very few women or children are being allowed to pass after questioning. Media reporters are absolutely prohibited."

An AFP photographer who tried to reach the village on Wednesday was apprehended at a checkpoint several kilometres (miles) from the village manned by police in riot gear.

The photographer was blocked from entering the village and returned under police escort to the city of Shenzhen in Guangdong, over the border from Hong Kong.

Residents of Wukan have gathered every day for the past three days to protest what they say are illegal land grabs by corrupt officials -- a highly incendiary issue that this year led to riots in which villagers attacked a police station.

Local people wrecked police vehicles and took more than 20 government and public security officials hostage in the police station in the nearby city of Lufeng, a witness said at the time.

On Friday, police arrested five villagers over the September riots, one of whom -- identified as 42-year-old Xue Jinbo -- died on Sunday.

Authorities say he suffered a cardiac arrest while in custody, and had a history of asthma and heart disease. But the villagers have accused police of beating him to death, saying his body appeared badly bruised.

"The case is under further investigation," the official Xinhua news agency quoted the local public security bureau deputy head Zeng Songquan as saying, adding that he hoped the villagers would not stage further riots.

There has been little coverage of the protests in China's state-run media, and authorities have blocked Internet searches on the name of the village in an apparent effort to stop news of the unrest from spreading.

The Lufeng government, which oversees Wukan, has said police, riot police and firemen with water cannon had been deployed to the village to "ensure stability".

"We will continue to protest for a fair result on Xue Jinbo's death and for our land," said another villager contacted by AFP.

"We are now starting to face food shortages, but neighbouring villages are trying to help out with donations."

Local authorities said in a statement released Friday they had settled some of the complaints that led to the September riots and that two village officials had been fired.

But the villagers' anger persists.

"We want the central government to deal with our problem. We won't give up, we want the corrupt officials to be arrested," said one.

China police block access to riot-hit village: locals
Beijing (AFP) Dec 12, 2011 - A Chinese village hit by violent protests over land grabs in September has been under police blockade for days, with Internet access cut and food supplies running low, residents said Monday.

The villagers said a man who was detained for his alleged role in the September riots had been beaten to death -- a claim authorities deny. They say the man, Xue Jinbo, fell ill in custody and died in hospital.

The protests in Wukan in the southern province of Guangdong were triggered by local anger over a government land requisition and saw hundreds of demonstrators attack a police station and ransack vehicles.

Residents accused authorities of forcibly grabbing their land and not compensating them, but the government insisted the process was lawful.

Land grabs have become a hugely contentious issue in China, where authorities are accused of colluding with developers in lucrative real estate deals that have become an important source of government revenue.

On Monday a local villager whose name AFP has withheld for his protection said the roads around Wukan had been blocked by police, who he said numbered in the thousands, and that the Internet had been cut off.

"People can't come in and we can't go out... We won't survive if the situation keeps going, as we have no food," he told AFP by phone in an account confirmed by another resident.

"We normally have to buy food from outside, but we are blocked, so we can't buy it," he said.

Authorities have so far detained five people for their alleged role in the unrest in September, including Xue Jinbo, who died on Sunday.

The government of Shanwei -- a larger area that has jurisdiction over Wukan -- said Xue "suddenly felt unwell" after three days in detention and was rushed to a local hospital where he later died.

"A man is dead but he wasn't beaten to death -- that is all we can tell you," a local government official who did not give her name told AFP by telephone.

A statement posted on the government's website on Sunday said the hospital had determined it was a "sudden cardiac death," and had "so far ruled out other causes".

However, one relative of the victim told AFP there were indications he had been beaten.

"I don't believe that he died yesterday in hospital. He must have died before he was sent to hospital," said the man, who asked not to be identified.

"His daughter... collapsed when she saw the body and she saw that some finger bones were broken. There were bruises on his back. The skin of his chest was broken. We are convinced that he was beaten to death."

The Shanwei government said in a separate statement that police had gone to Wukan on Sunday to clear away trees and nail-studded planks laid across roads leading to the village by "criminals".

One villager told AFP they had put up the blocks to try and stop police from coming and arresting more people.

The government made no mention of police blocking people from coming in or out of the village, and calls to various government and Communist Party departments in the area went unanswered.