On July 19, 2008 (June 17, 2008 in the lunar calendar), the "7.19" rubber farmer incident occurred in Menglian County, Yunnan Province. On July 19, a violent conflict broke out in Menglian Dai Lahu Wa Autonomous County, Pu'er City, Yunnan Province. The police officers performing their duties were besieged and beaten by hundreds of people. During the conflict, the police were forced to use riot guns to defend themselves, and two people died. After the incident, Bai Enpei, Secretary of the Yunnan Provincial Party Committee, and Governor Qin Guangrong demanded that the truth be found out and released as soon as possible to prevent the conflict from further intensifying. Disputes between rubber farmers and rubber companies led to conflicts. Some rubber farmers in Gongxin Township, Mengma Town, Menglian County clashed with relevant personnel of Mengma Rubber Co., Ltd., due to the dispute. On July 15, Menglian County dispatched a working group to deal with it and posted a notice restricting the surrender. On the morning of July 19, when the local police summoned the conflict personnel, they were besieged by more than 500 local villagers and rubber farmers, resulting in 41 police officers injured, 8 police cars were smashed, and 15 people were injured. The police were forced to use riot guns to defend themselves, causing many villagers to be injured and 2 people died after rescue efforts failed. ¡ö The cause of the incident The surrender notice intensified the conflict. Local rubber farmers reported that the rubber company did not mention the purchase price for five years. Two years ago, they had disputes with the rubber company many times when negotiating the ownership of the rubber forest. Each time they were discouraged by the police, but the problem could not be resolved for a long time. On March 25 this year, they had a physical altercation with the rubber company personnel, and were subsequently forcibly persuaded by the working group and police sent by Menglian County. On July 15, when several villagers tried to argue with the rubber company again, they had verbal conflicts and physical friction with the members of the working group. On July 15, the Menglian County Court, Procuratorate, and Public Security Bureau issued a notice "On Restricting Illegal and Criminal Persons". The notice restricts personnel such as "organizing and inciting the masses to gather a crowd to disrupt social order" to surrender within 10 days from July 5, 2008. If they do not surrender voluntarily, they will be severely punished. The notice did not attract those who surrendered. At about 6 am on the 19th, five rubber farmers including Yan Yi, Yan Shuai Wang, Yan Busy, Bo Ye Hannen, and Yan Yi Suo Bing from Mengah Village were forcibly beaten and taken away by the police at home and in their sleep. This incident became the direct trigger for the subsequent conflict. The rubber farmers have deep grievances with the rubber company: on May 19, 2003, they signed the "Contract for Pipe, Raising and Cutting of Rubber Plants" with the rubber company. The contract term is 30 years, and the rubber company owns 64.22% of the forest land property rights. The rubber farmers report that in recent years, the market price of rubber products has been rising, soaring from 7,000 to 8,000 per ton a few years ago to more than 20,000 yuan per ton now, while the rubber company still buys it at the price agreed in the contract five years ago. Since 2006, rubber farmers have repeatedly asked rubber companies to raise the purchase price on the grounds of rising prices of rubber products and prices, but they have been rejected. They have decided to cancel the contract signed with the rubber company, own all the property rights of the rubber woodland, and produce and sell their own products.