Hundreds of villagers clashed with police in southern China leaving several people injured, villagers and officials said Friday in the latest of a spate of disputes over land requisition and corruption.
An estimated 800 people in Dashi village in Guangdong province surrounded two vans carrying police and officials Tuesday, after police arrested a young man who headed a campaign against forced land requisitions, his father Feng Senquan told AFP.
Around 600 police later descended on the village near Guangzhou city and randomly arrested seven people, sparking an hour-long clash, Feng said. They remained in detention as of Friday.
A 16-year-old teenager and an 84-year-old woman were hospitalised after the fighting. The young man was seriously hurt after police kicked him in the stomach and hit him over the head with water pipes, said Feng.
"They are worst than thugs," said Feng. "There is no law, no justice here. All we want is to have our land back ... My son has done nothing wrong."
The latest of a series of protests over land rights in rural China has highlighted the increasingly contentious social problem, which threatens to boil over into larger-scale conflicts across China.
Dozens of villagers were still gathering outside the village committee building Friday, demanding the release of the detained villagers and to have their land returned, Feng said.
Local police refused comment, saying they would not talk to reporters.
The Yuwotou township government, which has jurisdiction over Dashi village, acknowledged the confrontation but denied that police have beaten up villagers.
"There was absolutely no bloodshed and no injuries. There was no arrest," said an official, who gave his name as He.
He denied that hundreds of police were mobilised, saying that only up to 30 were dealing with the protest.
He said the Panyu district government was investigating the incident. It refused to comment when contacted by AFP.
Land requisition by the state has become one of China's sharpest social issues with an increasing number of evicted people in both urban and rural regions accusing government officials of illegal land grabs to enrich the ruling elite.
In China, all land is owned by the state, giving local officials tremendous powers.
China said Thursday it is setting up elite anti-terror and riot police units equipped with everything from batons to armoured vehicles, in a sign of growing concern over social unrest.
The special force will cover 36 key cities and one of the first detachments, a 500-member squad, has already been formed in Zhengzhou, capital of central China's unrest-prone Henan province, the Xinhua news agency said.