Sullen workers storm Guangdong court

(China Daily)
Updated: 2009-07-08 09:24

More than 200 factory workers attacked police officers outside a court in Foshan, Guangdong province on Monday in protest over the compensation they received during the factory's bankruptcy proceedings.

The workers had been employed with the state-owned Lingnan Machinery Factory, which filed for bankruptcy with the city's Nanhai district court in 2001, Guangzhou-based Nanfang Daily reported Tuesday.

Around 8:30 am on Monday, the workers gathered outside the district court and set up banners in the middle of the road near the court.

Local police, as well as officials of the district emergency office and politics and law committee, rushed to the court and advised the workers to return home.

But some of the workers, reluctant to leave, attacked and injured several policemen with stools and umbrellas. The police later apprehended 17 of the protesters while others eventually left the vicinity of the court.

"Citizens should express their demands in a legitimate way," according to a court statement.

Those who attack state offices and disturb the social order will be investigated according to the law, it said.

The Guangdong provincial department of finance had allocated nearly 25 million yuan ($3.6 million) in compensation to the workers before the factory's bankruptcy petition, Guangzhou Daily reported Tuesday.

To solve the housing problem for the factory's 70 households of workers, Nanhai district court had asked the factory's land buyer to set aside 1,700 sq m of land for housing.

In 2007, workers received another nearly 10 million yuan of allowance from authorities.

But these workers have continued to demand more bankruptcy compensation from relevant government departments since 2008.