One person was killed and five critically wounded when police in southwest China clashed with protesters trying to block construction of a mine, the government and a rights group said yesterday.
According to the Chinese Human Rights Defenders network, police fired on up to 100 villagers on Monday in Saixi village in Yunnan Province, killing one.
The coalition of domestic and overseas rights activists said more than 20 protesters were beaten and several taken away by police for interrogation.
The Wenshan prefecture government said police initially fired warning shots but when that proved ineffective, moved in to quell the protests.
In a statement on its Web site, it said: “After warning shots fired by the police were ineffective, and as the personal safety of the police was severely threatened, police were forced to use anti-riot guns, police clubs and shields in accordance with the law to defend themselves.”
The government statement said 11 protesters were injured and that one of the demonstrators later died on the way to hospital. It also said the villagers were armed with knives and were hurling sticks, rocks and bricks at police when the shots were fired.
Five policemen were injured while quelling the unrest, according to the government statement, which added that order had been restored in the village.
According to the rights network, the villagers had not agreed to compensation offered by the Zijin Mining Group, one of China’s major mining companies, and were incensed when construction of the tungsten mine went ahead.
Clashes erupted after police and mining company officials began taking away video cameras from the villagers, most of whom were members of the Miao ethnic minority, the rights network added.
Armed police, including border police used to patrol the nearby frontier with Vietnam, had been brought in to maintain order by the state-owned mining company with the approval of the local government, the network said.
Government officials in Yunnan Province refused to comment on the incident when contacted by reporters.
Land disputes have been an acute social problem in China in recent years, with villagers and farmers often complaining about poor compensation packages in land-use deals usually brokered between the government and developers.
But it is rare when news is released that police have used lethal force to quell protests over land disputes.
In December 2005, police in southern China’s Guangdong Province opened fire on protesters in Dongzhou village, killing at least three people as peaceful demonstrations against a government land grab there turned violent.
Separately, police clashed with some 6,000 villagers, mostly of the ethnic Li minority, in Hainan Province in southern China between April 9 and 13, the rights group said.
The villagers were protesting about insufficient compensation for land that was being confiscated to build a golf course, it said.
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