WUKAN, China –  A town in southern China is running out of food and supplies because riot police are refusing to allow goods vehicles into the area.

Tensions in Wukan, in the Guangdong province, came to a head Sunday when a man who was being held by police for his part in September riots over the illegal sale of farmers' land died in custody, The (London) Times reported.

Police said that Xue Jinbo, a butcher, died from "cardiac failure" on his third day of detention, but his family claim that he had acquired a range of injuries consistent with torture while in the care of officials.

A local resident, calling himself Charles Suen, said that Xue had no history of heart disease and was a "simple and honest man."

"He died three days after being taken away," he wrote online. "He is the first person to be sacrificed in the Wukan incident. We want the truth, not some polite official formula."

Armed police have now formed a barrier round the edges of the town to prevent supplies getting to its 20,000 angry residents, who claim that corrupt officials have sold farmers' land to rich developers.

Wukan townspeople claimed online that teargas was fired at them by police during protests over the weekend and they posted images on social networking site of residents armed with sticks and farming equipment.

"Even people coming to send rice and wheat flour into the village have been chased away [by police]," one resident wrote, "but we will not give in to corrupt officials. We will protect our homes with our fists."