![]() Chinese police officers. Tensions remain high in a southern Chinese village where police violently quashed a protest over a government land grab, although there was no repeat of the unrest seen over the weekend
(AFP/File) |
Tensions remain high in a southern Chinese village where police violently quashed a protest over a government land grab, although there was no repeat of the unrest seen over the weekend.
The Zhongshan city government, which administers the area in Guangdong province where the protests erupted, said it had dispatched over 100 officials to respond to villagers' demands, and that relative peace had been restored.
"After patient efforts to channel the dissatisfaction, beginning with the morning of January 15, villagers stopped blocking traffic on the highway and the orderly handling of the entire matter is proceeding," the government said in a statement.
A local resident also confirmed to AFP on Tuesday that there had been no repetition on Monday night of the weekend's violence, but did not rule out further protests if talks with the government proved to be unsatisfactory.
"No-one protested last night (Tuesday)," the villager, who wished to remain anonymous, told AFP by phone.
"But there is talk of bigger protests to come."
Police remained at barricades going into the village, checking identifications and frisking people entering and leaving, he said.
In its statement, the government pledged to "actively respond to reasonable demands of villagers and appropriately resolve social contradictions."
"The city police has called on the villagers to act rationally and to seek to resolve their legitimate demands through legal channels," it said.
However the statement cautioned villagers to remain calm and not to believe in, or spread, rumors.
The clashes in Panlong village of Sanjiao township erupted on Saturday night due to anger over inadequate compensation the government paid to villagers for farmland that was seized to sell to factories and other investors.
Several villagers told AFP that up to 60 people were injured and at least one person -- a 13-year-old girl -- died when police armed with anti-riot gear indiscriminately attacked people who were protesting on a highway.
"They didn't care if you were elderly or young, big or small. They beat whoever they saw. They were like mad dogs," a man, who witnessed the violence from his rooftop, told AFP by telephone on Monday.
"They used electric batons. They chased people several hundred meters and beat them. People were running every which way."
Some locals told AFP up to 20,000 villagers had protested while others said there were around 7,000.
The Zhongshan government maintained the official line that only 100 villagers had been protesting on Saturday night, while another several hundred had been "watching" the protests.
The street battle is the latest in a rising number of clashes between police and farmers over land seizures, an issue the central government has conceded is a growing concern.
It followed a protest in December in Guangdong's Dongzhou village, in which paramilitary forces opened fire on the demonstrators, killing three people according to official accounts, and many more according to some villagers.