Anger flared when Li Guochao, 31, crashed into a lamppost after a local official threw a walkie-talkie at him as he sped away from a checkpoint, the city's public security bureau said in a statement.

Protests, led by Li's angry family, broke into anti-police violence on Friday afternoon and lasted until the early hours of Saturday, with rioters burning a police car, the statement said.

The protest was the latest in a series of confrontations over social issues in China, where tens of thousands of riots erupt each year, many stemming from grievances over abuse of power, corruption or land grabs.

The street where the violence took place had returned to normal on Saturday afternoon, with vendors working and shops open, an AFP reporter at the scene said.

There was a beefed up police presence outside the station near where the riots took place.

"There were thousands of people trying to get close to the police station," said one shop owner, who witnessed the riots.

"They tried to turn over the police car and people were smashing the windows with knives," said the woman, who did not want to be named.

The police statement said the official who threw the walkie-talkie was not a police officer, and that the only police presence was a traffic officer 300 metres (yards) away from the checkpoint.

"However, the relatives of Li Guochao thought that the checkpoint was organised by the police," the statement said.

Li had been stopped at the checkpoint in the city's Bao'an district, the statement said. He was carrying a passenger, who got off before Li sped away.

An official tried to block his path, but was ignored and then threw the walkie-talkie at Li. He lost control of his motorcycle and then crashed into the lamppost, the statement said.

He was taken to hospital where he died a few hours later, the statement said.

The relatives of Li called together a group of around 30 people and at around 2:30pm, they carried Li's body to the police station, "smashed things" and started setting off firecrackers, the statement said.

By 5:00 pm, more than 400 people had gathered at the police detachment with more than 2,000 others watching nearby. Some people threw stones and set fire to a police car, the statement said.

Police were only able to disperse the crowd at 2:00 am. There were no other reports of injuries.

The official who threw the walkie-talkie has been detained by police, the statement said.

Shenzhen is a thriving city of more than eight million people, lying just across the border from Hong Kong.

It has been transformed from a fishing village over the past 30 years after it was chosen by former Deng Xiaoping to be at the vanguard of economic reforms.

People living in the area told AFP the checkpoints had been set up to enforce a ban on motorcycles, set up after a spate of muggings by riders who snatched handbags.

One taxi driver in Shenzhen said it was widely believed that some of the police in the area were corrupt.

"The police say they are working for the people, but what actually happens is they just work for money," said the driver, who only gave his surname as Ma.

Huang Sen, a street hawker selling socks, said thousands blocked the road next to the station during the riots, and that police had mistreated motorcyclists in the past.

"The police are like barbarians," Huang told AFP.

In June, tens of thousands of people rioted in southwest Guizhou province over claims police had covered up the alleged rape and murder of a teenage girl.

And last month a Shanghai court rejected an appeal from an unemployed man who became an unlikely cult hero after murdering six policemen in what he said was revenge for a wrongful arrest.

Yang's case became a lightning rod for controversy by raising questions about police harassment, with some regarding him as a victim who stood up to abuse commonly suffered by marginalised people in Chinese society.

earlier related report
Thousands attack police in southern China: state media
Thousands of people attacked Chinese police in the southern city of Shenzhen from Friday afternoon to early Saturday morning, state media reported.

Xinhua news agency reported the unrest in an "urgent" report, quoting Shenzhen city's government saying a police car was burnt when thousands of people protested the death of a 31-year-old motorcyclist on Friday.

The report said the motorcyclist died after driving through a police checkpoint set up as part of a crackdown on illegal motor vehicles in the city's Bao'an district.

A police officer threw his "interphone" at the passing motorcyclist, the report said, "who reeled down to an electric pole, got injured, and died with futile rescue efforts."

A subsequent Xinhua report, quoting the city's police authority, said no police were at the checkpoint and it had been set up by a subdistrict office of Bao'an district.

However, a police patrol was nearby and relatives of the dead man attacked it, blaming the police, the later report said, as 400 people gathered while another 2,000 looked on.

The police car was burnt as the crowd became angry, while some of the onlookers threw stones, Xinhua said.

The later report made no mention of injuries and said the crowd had dispersed by 2:00 am Saturday (1800 GMT Friday).

An official with the subdistrict office had been detained by police, the report added.

Shenzhen is a booming coastal city just over the border from Hong Kong.

It has a population of about eight million people, according to its official website, which made no mention of the violence.

China sees thousands of such disturbances each year as marginalised segments of society rise up against what they see as the heavy-handed practices of local governments, police or powerful businesses.

In June, tens of thousands of people rioted in southwest Guizhou province over claims police had covered up an alleged rape and murder of a teenage girl.

The Hong Kong-based Information Centre for Human Rights and Democracy said that over 10,000 people took to the streets in that protest, with up to 150 people injured in clashes with police.

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