Expulsions : émeute à 台州 Taizhou (浙江 Zhejiang) – 14 juin 2011

China unrest as hundreds protest against Taizhou land grabs

guardian.co.uk

Thursday 16 June 2011 10.53 BST

Riot police and locals clash in village after local government boss accused of stealing compensation payments

Chinese security forces mobilised to suppress protests in eastern China, a monitoring group and eyewitnesses said on Thursday, in the latest bout of unrest gripping parts of the country.

The unrest in Taizhou, Zhejiang province, broke out on Tuesday after the head of a local village government confronted petrol station staff during talks over land compensation fees that the station’s owner was due to pay villagers, the reports said.

Within hours, hundreds of fellow residents of Rishanfen village had surrounded the petrol station, blocked an adjacent airport expressway, and seized a man who had struck the village leader, according to the owner of a nearby factory, who witnessed the events.

Riot police clashed with villagers, said the factory owner, who spoke on condition of anonymity. Reinforcements arrived on Wednesday and officers detained about a dozen people, including the chief, other village officials and anyone found with images of the protest on their mobile phones, the man said.

Police and government officials in Taizhou were unavailable for comment.

As with many of the protests across China, the Taizhou incident appears rooted in disagreements over compensation for land seized for development.

The Hong Kong-based Information Center for Human Rights and Democracy said villagers squeezed by soaring inflation had been hoping for an increase in payments from businesses in the industrial park, including the gas station. The factory owner, however, said many believed that compensation offered by the petrol station had been embezzled by the former head of Rishanfen, now the local Communist party secretary – a much more powerful position. Read more …