Beijing - Armed police clashed with residents in central China's Hubei Province after the suspicious death of a chef at a local hotel sparked a three-day standoff, according to local reports Sunday.

The unrest began Wednesday evening after the body of 24-year-old Tu Yuangao was found outside the door of the Yonglong Hotel in Shishou City, where he worked as a chef, the Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post reported.

While police insisted that Tu committed suicide, Tu's father placed the corpse in the hotel lobby and demanded an investigation into the cause of his son's death, the report said.

When police tried to seize the body, onlookers gathered to prevent their entrance into the hotel. Some online reports put the number of protesters at 50,000 on Saturday.

Images online showed a large crowd in front of the hotel, as well as a vandalized fire truck and an overturned police car. A video showed protesters clashing with armed police.

State media at first reported that a burning vehicle and police cordons were the result of an inter-departmental fire drill.

The official Xinhua news agency later reported the riots and said that a suicide note was found with Tu Yuangao's body.

"Police didn't find life-threatening injuries on the surface of the body," the agency reported.

However, local residents said Tu's death was suspicious and followed on from that of a girl who died in similar circumstances a few years ago.

While authorities claimed the girl's death was also suicide, locals said that the hotel was a known drug den and that senior officers in the police, court and electricity bureau were shareholders in the hotel, the South China Morning Post reported.

The semi-official China News Service reported that Tu's body had been taken to a funeral parlour early Sunday morning. (dpa)