Thousands of villagers protesting against the building of a dam in China's southwestern province of Sichuan detained the region's most senior government official for several hours Friday, reports said.
Tens of thousands of demonstrators surrounded and detained the secretary of the province's Communist Party of China, Zhang Xuezhong, on Friday as he visited the scene of the protests in Hanyuan county, Taiwan and Hong Kong media reported yesterday.
Two police officers were also killed during the demonstrations, Taiwan's China Times reported citing information published on the Internet that it said was confirmed by anonymous sources in Beijing.
An extra 6,000 soldiers from the People's Armed Police have been sent to the area, the paper said.
The incidents were reported in Taiwan but not, however, in China's state-run media.
An official at the party's provincial headquarters in Chengdu could not confirm the reports but said Zhang had travelled to Hanyuan on Friday.
Around 100,000 people are to be relocated to make way for the Pubugou dam in Sichuan's Hanyuan county, and many are unhappy at the compensation payments offered. Protests against the dam started late last month.
Tempers boiled over on Thursday and Friday last week when villagers said at least one person was killed and scores were injured as tens of thousands of people clashed with armed police.
As many as 10,000 soldiers had been deployed to areas near the hydroelectric dam on Friday, the Hong Kong Apple Daily said. It quoted residents as saying this was the first time that soldiers had been mobilised.
Officials in Sichuan province were not available to comment.
The ruling Communist Party is keen to curb dissent and preserve social stability, but a spate of recent protests and their scale illustrate the extent of grievances in rural China, fuelled by corruption and a growing gap between rich and poor.
The Apple Daily said between 50,000 and 60,000 protesters staged another huge protest on Wednesday, resulting in clashes that left two dead and two injured.
While police did not open fire, they beat back the crowds with batons.
At least seven people were killed and 42 injured in central Henan province after a car accident involving an ethnic Han Chinese and a member of the Hui Muslim minority sparked rioting late last month.
Despite strict government controls, more than 3 million people staged about 58,000 protests across China last year -- a 15 percent jump from the previous year -- according to Outlook magazine, a mouthpiece of the Communist Party.
‘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