Villagers, Police Clash in South China

By The Associated Press | The New York Times
April 13, 2006

BEIJING (AP) -- Thousands of villagers clashed with police in southern China over government plans to tear down sluice gates built for irrigation, leaving one woman dead and several people injured, newspapers and witnesses said Thursday.

About 4,000 villagers gathered Wednesday to stop police from demolishing the pair of gates in Bomei, a village in Guangdong province, and were dispersed with tear gas and water cannons, according to Hong Kong's Ming Pao Daily.

The newspaper and Radio Free Asia, a U.S.-funded broadcaster, said a woman in her 30s was killed. Radio Free Asia said she was hit in the head by a tear gas canister. Ming Pao said at least 10 other people were injured.

The South China Morning Post newspaper said the villagers were armed with ''homemade weapons including petrol bombs'' and fought to keep more than 1,000 police officers from the gates.

An official in Xilu, the town which oversees Bomei, said he was ''unclear'' about the situation and hung up. Telephone calls to government offices in Bomei and to the provincial government were not answered.

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