Zuo, a villager from Fenshui Township, Xiangtan County, demanded compensation from the county government on the grounds that he had taken out loans to raise pigs, suffered disease outbreaks, and fell into debt, and repeatedly petitioned at higher levels.

Recently, Zuo brought a bottle of pesticide to the county people's petition reception center and threatened staff by attempting to commit suicide by drinking the pesticide unless his compensation matter was implemented immediately, but was stopped by staff in time. His behavior seriously disrupted the normal office order of the county people's petition reception center, making normal work impossible for as long as two hours.

Subsequently, the Xiangtan County Public Security Bureau administratively detained Zuo for seven days in accordance with the law for disrupting the order of a government agency or unit, and confiscated the bottle of dichlorvos pesticide he possessed. A farce of persistent and disruptive petitioning thus came to an end.