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'Nail' starts fight against developers

By Xu Fan (China Daily)
Updated: 2009-12-07 07:46

'Nail' starts fight against developers

Lu Daren, the anti-demolition guard, says he is confident of fending off the bulldozers. [China Daily]

A former construction contractor with more than 10 years of demolition experience started his first day as an "anti-demolition nail" yesterday.

Lu Daren, a 46-year-old Shanxi resident who came to Beijing recently looking for work, told METRO yesterday he has fought off unreasonable demolitions in at least 15 cases.

"I'm experienced in handling such issues and I know the psychological states of both sides," said Lu.

As the "nail", Lu will be paid 1,000 yuan per month and a bonus of 2 percent of any compensation received.

"Nail house" is a newly-developed term referring to homeowners who refuse to move from demolition zones and "stick out like a nail". This is usually because they disagree with compensation offered.

Lu brought his luggage, including a thick green military-style overcoat, and said he will stay in the restaurant 24-hours-a-day.

"If the negotiation stops and they want to demolish by force, I might buy 10 or 15 gas cylinders and scatter them throughout the restaurant," said Lu.

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Zhong Boxin, one of the two owners of the restaurant, interrupted Lu and said they prefer to solve the issue in a peaceful way.

"However, if we are forced to resist in such extreme way, I'll let the other employees leave first and then I'll turn on the gas cylinders myself," said Zhong.

Fish Castle Restaurant Bar in Yayuncun area is owned by 28-year-old Qin Rong and her boyfriend Zhong. The young partners rented the business with a three-year lease in 2007 and invested 600,000 yuan in decoration and promotion. They seek compensation of at least 400,000 yuan before they agree to move out.

"We never received official notice for demolition. Some people we didn't know kept coming to threaten us to move out," said Qin.

Because the young partners both have full-time jobs, they decided to post online ads last Tuesday to recruit a permanent force. They also attracted heavy media attention.

Qin said 10 people called her and four were interviewed.

Among the four, three were considered old enough. They included a 56-year-old Beijing resident who had been a "nail house" for his rental land, a Shanghai resident who resisted demolition for four years, and Lu.

"We finally decided to hire Lu because he can work round the clock and is experienced," said Qin, who explained that demolition might also be carried out during the nighttime.

"Early in the morning today, more than 10 people tried to demolish the yard in front of my restaurant so we had to call the police," she said.

"They have already pulled down the neighboring toilet. My employees now have to walk more than 10 minutes to the nearest one," she added.

Qin said that because the water and power had been switched off on Monday, her new "nail" employee posted a banner with the words "we are suffering from a power and water cut."

All the newspapers reporting their troubles were glued to the restaurant's windows.