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Villagers, construction workers clash near Guangzhou

Villagers and construction workers clashed on a small island in southern China amid anger over the government's seizure of farmland for a real estate project, leaving one dead and 10 injured, a US broadcaster said yesterday.

A Chinese state media report said one person was killed and 14 injured in violence on the island over a traffic dispute but made no mention of local hostility against the real estate development.

The clash on Tuesday on the island of Guanzhou on the outskirts of Guangzhou, a bustling city of 11 million, was sparked when dozens of villagers gathered at the construction site to demand compensation after a local man was hit by a dirt truck near the site, Radio Free Asia reported.

The confrontation turned violent as locals were already angry over the seizure of 133 hectares of land for the biosphere project being built, it said.

The report quoted a local villager surnamed Chen as saying hostilities have been brewing for some time because villagers had been unfairly compensated.

Radio Free Asia said a man, also surnamed Chen, was beaten to death when 30 to 40 workers in hardhats wielding iron clubs attacked the villagers in an attempt to get them to disperse.

A report by state-run Yangcheng Evening News identified the dead man as 42-year-old Chen Yongqi and said that 14 people had been injured.

The state media report quoted witness Chen Zhibin as saying the clash occurred after 100 villagers gathered at the site to complain because a villager had been injured by a cement mixer, but it made no mention of land seizures.

The paper said between 200 and 300 workers wearing hard hats and carrying pipes attacked the villagers when they would not let a man who appeared to be a boss at the site drive away.

Chinese state media is strictly monitored by censors who frequently ban reports on issues that are seen to threaten social stability, such as land seizures.

It was the latest in series of bloody confrontations between authorities and citizens, most over corruption, the widening gap between rich and poor, and official attempts to seize land.
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