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China's anti-gang police chief placed on 'stress leave'

News came hours after police surrounded the US consulate in Chengdu prompting rumours of an attempted defection

• Tania Branigan in Beijing
• guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 8 February 2012 05.14 GMT
• Article history

Chinese police seen here on duty. Police chief Wang Lijun became famous for spearheading the anti-gang crackdown in nearby Chongqing Photograph: Saul Loeb/AFP/Getty Images

Chinese authorities have announced that a high profile official is receiving "vacation-style treatment" due to stress, hours after police surrounded the United States consulate in south-western Chengdu - prompting widespread rumours of an attempted defection.

Wang Lijun became famous for spearheading the anti-gang crackdown in nearby Chongqing, launched by the city's powerful party secretary Bo Xilai, who is tipped by many for promotion this autumn. But the police chief was reshuffled last week, to widespread surprise.

"According to information, because of long-term overwork, vice mayor Wang Lijun is highly stressed and in poor health. He is now accepting vacation-style treatment," Chongqing's information office posted in a message on its microblog account on Wednesday.

Statements of that kind are extremely rare in China. This one - retweeted tens of thousands of times by microblog users - came hours after large numbers of police surrounded the US consulate in Chengdu on Tuesday evening, blocking off roads around the building.

Chinese microblog users began to circulate pictures of the scene and rumours of a high-profile attempted defection. They claimed a car with what appeared to be official number plates was seen outside the building but was subsequently removed by Chinese police.

The police presence has now diminished considerably, but is still understood to be somewhat higher than usual.

A spokesman for the US embassy in Beijing declined to comment on the incident, beyond saying that the US had not requested the police presence.

Police and government officials in Chengdu said they had no knowledge of the situation.

Wang's reassignment to other duties last week prompted widespread speculation that he had fallen from favour and been sidelined. But some political analysts thought his new job was probably intended to groom him for higher political office, by broadening his experience.