Villages clash over land dispute; 6 detained
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![Villagers stay on their knees outside the city government building in Huazhou, South China's Guangdong province. [China.com]](http://images.china.cn/attachement/jpg/site1007/20100519/000802ab80120d5d7b7601.jpg "Villagers stay on their knees outside the city government building in Huazhou, South China's Guangdong province. [China.com]") |
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Villagers stay on their knees outside the city government building in Huazhou, South China's Guangdong province. [China.com] |
More than 100 residents of Huazhou in South China's Guangdong province went down on their knees outside the city government building to demand the release of six fellow villagers who were detained following a farmland dispute last month, local media reported on Tuesday.
On April 18, a township government official and a police officer, together with the help of 10 unemployed youths, detained six farmers from Meizikeng village suspected of being involved in a clash with neighboring villagers.
The brawl took place after Meizikeng villagers found their rice fields had been occupied by residents of the neighboring Shiziling village, according to a report in the Southern Rural News.
The brawl left several people injured from both sides.
As none of Shiziling villagers involved in the clash were detained, Meizikeng villagers went to the Huazhou city government office and knelt down at the gate to demand an explanation and the release of their fellow villagers on April 22.
According to the Southern Rural News report, the villagers stayed kneeling on the ground for more than an hour but no one from the government office came out to meet them.
Staff from the government headquarters told the villagers it was useless to kneel down in front of the building with hopes of intervention, the report said.
Some of the villagers wore clothes with a big Chinese character "Yuan", which means they were treated unfairly, printed on them.
The protestors also asked Yao Yaxin, Party secretary of Xin'an town, to step down from his post and bear responsibility for the clash.
"It is unfair that only villagers from Meizikeng were detained," a villager was quoted as saying.
Representatives of the villagers were finally taken to a meeting room by a police officer surnamed Liang. But no agreement was reached upon.
Party secretary Yao said the reason only Meizikeng villagers were detained was because they struck the first blow.
He added that the detained villagers would not be released unless both brawling parties reach an agreement, the report said.
However, Meizikeng villagers denied they started the violence.
When the villagers asked Liang, deputy director of Huazhou bureau of public security, why the police brought along 10 unemployed youths to detain the accused, he replied: "Everyone has the right to help police detain suspects".
Following a tip-off about the brawl, Tang Qiang, deputy Party secretary of Xin'an town, arrived at the scene with a police officer and 10 unidentified youths.
After questioning only Shiziling villagers, Tang ordered the youths to detain six residents of Meizikeng , including Li Zhonghua, who informed the police of the brawl.
According to villagers of Meizikeng, a certain Liu Yude from Shiziling is responsible for the clash.
Liu, a local deputy of the people's congress, operates a porcelain clay factory in his village.
Meizikeng villagers suspect Liu wanted the clay under the rice fields that belong to Meizikeng village.
Liu, however, denied any connection with the case.
Because of the clash, more than 30 mu (about 2 hectares) of rice fields have remained unused for almost a month.
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