More than 100 villagers in eastern China were at a standoff with police yesterday after a protest over the beating and detention of a relative of a human rights advocate, the activist said.
The villagers at Dongshigu in Shandong Province had gathered in a peaceful demonstration, said Chen Guangcheng (陳光誠), who said his cousin Chen Hua was beaten by unidentified men and taken away by police last week.
Chen Guangcheng, who is blind, has been detained and threatened by authorities for helping villagers file a lawsuit accusing local officials of forcing them to undergo abortions or sterilization.
Villagers in Dongshigu yesterday blocked authorities from clearing away debris left over from last week's demonstration, Chen said.
He said his house in Dongshigu has been under surveillance since August by at least 20 local officials and police, as well as hired thugs. Chen said that on Thursday night, he and his wife heard loud noises from Chen Hua's nearby house.
"First I heard his wife crying and someone was being beaten with a wood stick," Chen said. "She was begging them to stop but they just wouldn't listen."
Chen Guangcheng said his cousin was beaten probably because he refused to cooperate "when officials once tried to talk him into selling me out."
lawless land
Policemen called in to resolve the matter simply told the thugs to leave and detained Chen Hua without explanation, Chen Guangcheng said.
"I'm furious about what has happened. There is no rule [of] law," he said.
Villagers were so angered by the move that up to 400 of them gathered on Friday in protest against the police, Chen said.
They overturned three government cars and clashed with thugs, he said.
He said about a dozen suffered minor injuries.
A man who answered the phone at the police department in Yinan, the town that oversees the village, said he was "unclear" about the situation. In Dongshigu, phones rang unanswered at police and government offices.
Demonstrations against authorities have been growing in numbers and violence in recent months amid simmering anger against corruption and the widening gap between the rich and poor, especially in the impoverished countryside.
Chen came under the scrutiny of authorities after he helped gather information and prepared the case for seven villagers in Shandong Province who claimed local officials forced them to undergo sterilization surgery or abortions -- one method authorities reportedly use to keep the country's population of 1.3 billion under control.
Chen has said he was abducted last year during a business trip and held for 30 hours by men claiming to be police officers from Shandong, about 600km south of Beijing.
He later went on a hunger strike to protest the detention.
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