HONG KONG — Protesters in a Chinese fishing village that earned renown for its activism have taken to the streets in recent days to call for the release of a detained local leader and the resolution of a long-simmering dispute over land sales, residents said on Monday.

The village of Wukan, in the southeastern province of Guangdong, became the focus of attention both in China and abroad in 2011, as villagers angered over the sale of land temporarily forced out the local authorities.

Eventually, the villagers and the authorities reached a compromise, and the residents voted in leaders they hoped would resolve the dispute.

But protests on Sunday and Monday were the latest indication that the hope of the villagers to achieve their goals at the ballot box has been far from realized and that the so-called Wukan model of resolving local disputes in China has not worked in Wukan itself.