The parents of a girl whose death sparked a violent protest in southwest China's Guizhou Province agreed to bury her body after a third postmortem examination on Wednesday.

Li Xiuhua, father of Li Shufen, communicated the decision to officials on Tuesday evening, according to Meng Yuanfen, deputy head of the prefectural government of Qiannan.

The father refused to talk to the media after the violent protest over the weekend, in which about 160 government offices and 42 vehicles were burned and more than 150 police and protesters were injured in Weng'an County.

He was quoted by Meng as saying the family had not expected such violence but hoped to learn the exact cause of the girl's death.

Five experts from the Guizhou Provincial Department of Public Security and the Provincial High People's Court were conducting the third postmortem examination, and the results were expected to be revealed soon.

Two previous autopsies by local police concluded the girl had drowned, while her family and many local residents contended that she was raped and murdered by individuals who had connections with local government and police officials.

However, forensic investigator Wang Daixing, at a press conference on Monday night, said there was no evidence that Li had sexual intercourse before her death and there were no indications of rape.

Deputy director of the Weng'an police bureau, Zhou Guoxiang, insisted that the three people who last had contact with Li were from local villages and none had connections to any officials.

(Xinhua News Agency July 2, 2008)