Hundreds of riot police clashed with villagers protesting against an alleged land grab by officials in the southern Chinese province of Guangdong, a lawyer and Hong Kong newspapers reported yesterday.
"Scores of villagers, even elderly ones, were taken away by police after being beaten," said Yang Zaixin (
The lawyer said that local officials in Chongyuan village illegally seized the farmers' land without approval from the provincial and central governments.
Such allegations are common in booming Guangdong Province, one of China's biggest manufacturing centers. Officials are frequently accused of forcing farmers off land, which is later sold to developers who get rich building factories and other projects.
The South China Morning Post reported that hundreds of police armed with rifles, shields and electric batons broke up the sit-in protest on Thursday in Chongyuan, part of the Nanhai district in Foshan city.
After rounding up the large group of protesters, police released most of them late on Thursday afternoon, Yang said. But five were still being detained, he added.
Police withdrew after clearing away the protesters, but dozens of plain-clothes officials were watching the site, the Post quoted a protester, Chen Huiying (
In months, Lo Yuet-ping would bid farewell to a centuries-old village he has called home in Hong Kong for more than seven decades. The Cha Kwo Ling village in east Kowloon is filled with small houses built from metal sheets and stones, as well as old granite buildings, contrasting sharply with the high-rise structures that dominate much of the Asian financial hub. Lo, 72, has spent his entire life here and is among an estimated 860 households required to move under a government redevelopment plan. He said he would miss the rich history, unique culture and warm interpersonal kindness that defined life in
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