Society

Mass disturbance over Yunnan dam

By Yan Jie (China Daily)
Updated: 2011-04-01 07:50

BEIJING - More than 2,000 residents in a county in Southwest China disrupted local traffic for five straight days until Tuesday.

The residents participating in the country's first mass disturbance this year were protesting against compensation plans for requisition of their homes and land due to the construction of a dam, local authorities said on Thursday.

As of Tuesday afternoon, all the protesters, mostly villagers from rural areas, had dispersed and social order had been restored in Suijiang county of Southwest China's Yunnan province, said the county government in a statement published on Thursday.

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"There is no disorder in the county any more," Zhao Chongyan, a publicity official with the local government, told China Daily.

During the five-day mass disturbance, police had not been used to disperse the protesters, who began to gather at crossroads in the area on March 25, Zhao said.

Early this month, the Ministry of Public Security ordered police officers not to take part in demolitions of buildings and land requisitions because such actions fall outside their duties.

The order also warned that officers will face harsh punishment if they abuse their power in land disputes.

The protesters had been required to sign compensation agreements with the local government by March 25, several villagers told the Shanghai-based Oriental Morning Post.

The protesters complained that the compensation plans undervalued their lands, which would be flooded after the completion of the Xiangjiaba hydroelectric power plant, the report said.

The plant, which will be China's third-largest hydroelectric power plant, will cover the county's six towns under a reservoir and leave 40,100 residents displaced, according to the local government.

The protesters set up barriers to block the county's main streets on March 25, with their number swelling to more than 2,000 in the following days, the statement said.

All main access roads to the county had been blocked for four days, resulting in insufficient food supply, it added.

Local officials had failed in their first attempt to persuade the protesters to return home, some of whom vented their anger on police officers and government employees, the statement said.

A total of 17 police officers, four government employees and one resident had been beaten up, and an ambulance was stopped and damaged.

Gao Faxing, the local police chief, had been pushed to the ground and trampled on after he had managed to set free three people held by the protesters, including two government employees, the Oriental Morning Post said.

On Tuesday afternoon, more than 400 police officers were deployed to isolate about 300 protesters who continued to block a crossroad and a bridge, the newspaper said.

However, the police officers stayed calm and did not resort to violence, allowing government officials to convince the protesters to leave, it reported.

The official statement of Suijiang county government, however, did not mention or explain the presence of police during the incident.

More than 2,000 officials and government employees had visited the protesters' homes to hear their requests and answer their questions about the compensation plan, the statement said.