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Guangdong Villager Killed in Clash with Police

By Sandy Fung, Radio Free Asia

HONG KONG, April 12, 2006 - A woman was killed and an unknown number of people injured in the southern Chinese province of Guangdong following a dispute over government plans to tear down a pair of sluice gates, Radio Free Asia (RFA) reports.

Hundreds of residents of Bomei village near the port city of Shantou in eastern Guangdong clashed with police on Wednesday at the sluice gates after police detained a villager and the villagers detained four police officers in retaliation, witnesses told RFA's Cantonese service.

Police used tear gas and water cannon to disperse the crowd, witnesses said. A 34-year-old woman died en route to hospital after she was struck by a tear-gas canister, while five villagers suffered head injuries that witnesses described as "serious."

"The police tried to act [and disperse the crowd at the sluice gates] at 9 a.m., when there weren't many villagers guarding the water gates," one protester, identified only by his surname, Chen, said. "When some villagers learned of the police move, they told the whole village, and more than 1,000 villagers went to the site."

"There were about 3,000 police there. They threw tear-gas and used water cannon on us. Everything was very confused," Chen said.

"A 34-year-old woman was hit by a tear-gas bomb and died on the way to the hospital. There were some children there too. About a dozen villagers are injured."

Another villager, who asked to be identified only by his surname, Wang, confirmed Chen's account and said the clash "was triggered by the arrest of a villager. One villager died and some were injured," he said.

A duty officer at the Guangdong provincial public security office in Guangzhou declined to comment on the report. "You should apply for permission to do an interview," the officer said, before hanging up the phone. Bomei village is administered by Xilu township in the Chaoyang district of Shantou municipality.

Under China's existing arrangements, all land belongs to the state, but land-use rights and limited leases can be sold and exchanged on the open market. Under the Household Responsibility System brought in by Deng Xiaoping in 1980, rural authorities contract land to the collective, often a village, which in turn distributes it to individual households.

But heavily indebted local governments often fall back on the use of rural land within their jurisdiction for property developments. Rural protesters have frequently reported the use of secret meetings, bullying tactics, and mob violence by governments to enforce unpopular land transactions.

At least three people died near the neighboring city of Shanwei in clashes between local residents and armed police in December, in a separate land dispute that prompted a major government crackdown on the area.

Original reporting by Sandy Fung in Hong Kong for RFA's Cantonese service. Service director: Shiny Li. Written and produced in English by Sarah Jackson-Han and edited by Luisetta Mudie.

Source: Radio Free Asia