UPDATED ON:
THURSDAY, MAY 24, 2007
6:49 MECCA TIME, 3:49 GMT
 
NEWS ASIA-PACIFIC
China 'one-child' rioters arrested
China has seen a rising number of violent protests in recent years as discontent boils over [GALLO/GETTY] 
Police in China have reportedly arrested 28 people following riots in the south of the country triggered by heavy fines imposed on families with more children than allowed under family planning laws.
 
They were held for allegedly publicising the demonstration and for provoking and participating in the violence, the Xinhua news agency said.
In the first official account of the violence, the state run news agency said that between 300 and 3,000 people were involved in the demonstrations at the weekend outside government offices in six towns in southern Guangxi, an autonomous region bordering Vietnam.

Some witnesses quoted earlier in Chinese online forums and by foreign news agencies said that up to 20,000 people took part in the riots.

 

Fines and confiscation

 

In its reports on the protests, Xinhua said several rioters had "verbally abused and attacked government workers and civil police."

 

"In some cases, the county government office's main gate, its walls, office equipment, documents and archives were damaged.  

 

The Xinhua report said the protest was triggered by anger over fines that villagers said were imposed "arbitrarily and brutally" as part of efforts to control population growth in the area.

 

The local government reportedly tried to collect fines of more than $1,300 from families that had too many children under what has become known as China's one-child policy.

 

Those who could not pay - in an area where average annual income is $130 - had their possessions confiscated or destroyed.

 

One-child policy

 

China's one-child policy is meant to keep the population – the world's biggest at 1.3 billion - to a size the government believes is sustainable.

 

But the policy, in place sine the 1970s, has been controversial, with frequent reports of abuse including forced late-term abortions and forced sterilisations, as well as arbitrary fines.

 

In some provinces and regions, such as Guangxi, there are concessions to the policy with families allowed a second child if the first one is a girl although no one is allowed more than two children.

 

The weekend's protests were the latest in a growing number of violent incidents across China as ordinary Chinese vent anger over official corruption, a growing rich-poor gap and land confiscations.

 

According to the official figures there were 87,000 protests, officially termed "mass incidents", reported in 2005, up 6.6 per cent from 2004 and 50 per cent from 2003.

Source: Al Jazeera and agencies
Related:
China battles gender based abortion  
(23 Jan 2007)
Chinese riot over one-child 'fines'  
(22 May 2007)
China reforms one-child policy  
(16 Oct 2006)
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