More than 10,000 residents in central China broke windows and smashed vehicles during a violent protest after police used dogs to disperse a smaller demonstration, according to reports yesterday.
The incident began last Thursday when hundreds of residents from the city of Daye in Hubei Province, angry over a plan by the larger city of Huangshi to annex it, demonstrated outside the Huangshi government office, the Hong Kong-based Wen Wei Po newspaper said.
Officers from the paramilitary People's Armed Police turned police dogs on the protesters and four were bitten, the newspaper said.
Several protesters were also beaten by the officers, the report said.
Two days later, more than 10,000 residents from Daye massed outside the Huangshi city government office and smashed the windows and air-conditioning units on the first to fourth floors, the report said.
Messages by people claiming to be eyewitnesses and seen on Internet bulletin boards yesterday said that nearly 20,000 people were involved in the protests and some blocked roads for two hours.
The protesters also smashed more than 10 government vehicles and overturned some of them, the reports said.
Some 1,200 People's Armed Police were sent to the scene and later used tear gas to try to disperse the crowd, according to eyewitnesses.
Two people were detained but later released due to pressure from the crowd, they said.
Officials in Huangshi refused to comment yesterday.
Employees at the propaganda department said that initial statements posted by the city on its Web site to explain the incident had been deleted.
The Hubei provincial government also refused to comment.
The Huangshi government has since suspended plans for the annexation.
It urged Daye City residents to remain calm, a local TV station was quoted as saying.
Large-scale protests and riots have become common among Chinese who are frustrated by massive corruption and illegal land requisitions.
‘IN A DIFFERENT PLACE’: The envoy first visited Shanghai, where he attended a Chinese basketball playoff match, and is to meet top officials in Beijing tomorrow US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday arrived in China on his second visit in a year as the US ramps up pressure on its rival over its support for Russia while also seeking to manage tensions with Beijing. The US diplomat tomorrow is to meet China’s top brass in Beijing, where he is also expected to plead for restraint as Taiwan inaugurates president-elect William Lai (賴清德), and to raise US concerns on Chinese trade practices. However, Blinken is also seeking to stabilize ties, with tensions between the world’s two largest economies easing since his previous visit in June last year. At the
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese