Thousands clash with police in Jiangsu over forced landgrab

phayul.com

Wednesday, July 21, 2010

Dharamsala, July 21 – Thousands of angry peasants clashed with the police in Gaoxin District, Suzhou City, Jiangsu Province between July 14 and 18, reported the Epoch Times. The angry villagers were protesting land grabs by the Chinese government. The local Chinese media, however, remained mute over the incident. Internet blog postings by eyewitnesses were quickly deleted by the regime.

Several thousand villagers took over the government building coming face to face with riot police. Sources said the crowd was as many as thirty thousand at one point.

The standoff between police and villagers began as thousands of villagers arrived at the local government headquarters to express their grievances over the local government’s illegal takeover of their farmland. Tens of thousands of mu (1 mu = 0.16 acre) had been illegally expropriated during the past seven years without fair compensation to the villagers, the report by Epoch Times said.

« When the villagers found officials unresponsive, they became angry and took over the government building, breaking some equipment and bringing government business to a halt as officials fled, » reported Epoch Times

According to local residents, the riot police beat up the several hundred villagers who then retaliated with bricks and beer bottles on July 16. Dozens of villagers were injured and hospitalized, and several dozen arrested.

On July 17, local residents and relatives of those arrested, proceeded to blockade National Highway 312 in Gaoxin district to continue their protest.

Many more local residents rushed to the blocked highway. According to local residents, villagers from surrounding communities also came to support the protest.

Witnesses told Epoch Times that the government in 2003 started to forcefully take away farming land under the guise of constructing new high-tech industrial parks promising them compensations. However, the farmers never received the compensation promised by the government. Recently the local government started to auction off the land at prices ten or more times the purchase price.

Thousands clash with police over official corruption

TibetanReview.net

Jul21, 2010

Crowds of angry villagers estimated at up to 10,000, or possibly at as high as 30,000 at one stage, held violent protests in Suzhou City of Jiangsu Province from Jul 14 to 18. The cause was the local government’s illegal takeover of their farmland during the past seven years without fair compensation. The incident took place in Tong’an Township of Gaoxin District and began with thousands of villagers gathering at the township government building on Jul 14.

Finding the officials unresponsive, angry villagers took over the government building for two days, broke some equipment and brought government business to a halt as officials fled. Some 500 riot police arrived on Jul 16 and attacked the protesters who retaliated with bricks and beer bottles. Dozens of villagers were injured and taken to hospital while several dozen more were arrested.

The protest continued on Jul 17 with villagers blockading National Highway 312 in Gaoxin district. Villagers from surrounding communities who came to support the protest swelled the number of protesters at one time to as many as twenty to thirty thousand.

As some 10,000 people continued the protest on Jul 18, the party secretary of Suzhou city rushed to the area to discuss countermeasures with local officials. The number of police soared to several thousand with additional dispatches from the surrounding cities of Wuxi and Zhangjiagang.

It was not clear whether the protest continued from Jul 19.

It was in 2003 that the local government started expropriating land from the farmers, claiming it was needed to construct new high-tech industrial parks. However, while the farmers never received the compensation promised by the government, the tens of thousands of mu of farmland remained unused for any purpose for the past over six years. But recently the local government began auctioning the land at prices ten or more times the purchase price. This caused great resentment among the local residents.

Forced land expropriation, forced relocation, government corruption and police brutality remain a common feature across China, with the government addressing the issue only with repeated rhetoric.
(Sources: Sydney Morning Herald (AFP, citing Caijing magazine’s online edition) Jul 19; The Epoch Times, Jul 19; RTHK online (Hong Kong), Jul 20)

Informations

Suzhou (chinois simplifié : 苏州 ; chinois traditionnel : 蘇州 ; pinyin : Sūzhōu, aussi appelée Su-Zhou, Su-Chou ou Soo-Chow) est une ville de la province du Jiangsu (江苏 ) à l’est de la Chine. Située sur le cours du Yangzi Jiang et non loin du Tai Hu, la ville n’est qu’à une centaine de kilomètres de Shanghai.

~ par Alain Bertho sur 21 juillet 2010.

Publié dans émeutes, riots, 暴防