Li Xiuhua (second from right), father of Li Shufen, the 17-year-old woman whose death late last month led to violent protests in Weng'an county of Guizhou province over the weekend, speaks to reporters yesterday at his Weng'an home. 

Family members of Li Shufen, the 17-year-old girl whose death late last month sparked violent protests over the weekend in Weng'an county of Guizhou province, told reporters yesterday they were still waiting for the cause of her death.

Up to 30,000 people took part in the protest over the weekend, which was prompted by a controversial police report into the death of Li last month. Authorities had concluded that Li drowned herself, but her family and relatives said that she was raped and killed.

On Wednesday, a team of forensic scientists from Guiyang, the provincial capital of Guizhou, conducted a third autopsy on Li to check whether she was raped or not before jumping into the river during an outing with two men and a girl.

She was later buried in her hometown about 20 km from Weng'an.

Authorities have said that latest autopsy results on whether Li was raped will be made known by this week.

The previous two autopsies by forensic scientists at the county- and prefecture-level showed no signs of Li being raped.

Holding his dead sister's photo before their wooden house in the mountains, Li Shuyong said he did not believe she had committed suicide by drowning herself in a river, as the local government had said.

"It's impossible - I saw injuries on her face," Li, who will graduate from senior high school this summer, told China Daily during an interview with his family yesterday afternoon.

Li Shuyong, who failed to apply for college because of what has happened, said he was expecting "a different result" from the latest tests.

"I knew the girl who was with my sister that night, but not the two men," he said.