Scores of police try to keep villagers from protesting in southern China

By William Foreman - Associated Press - via Yahoo Malaysia! News
December 26, 2007

DONGZHOU, China - Trucks with loudspeakers drove through a fishing village in southern China on Wednesday, warning residents against protesting over a power plant they claim was built on unfairly seized land. Police briefly detained a foreign reporter before escorting him away from the village.

Scores of security forces, including military police riding on trucks, were guarding the road to the power station in Dongzhou, where three men were shot dead two years ago when police cracked down on a protest against the facility. Residents say the government gave them little or no compensation for the land used by the plant.

The long-simmering dispute began boiling again early this month when protesters blocked an electricity pylon that wasn't fully operational. Last week, Radio Free Asia _ a private broadcaster funded by the U.S. Congress _ reported that about 1,000 riot police fired tear gas at protesters in Dongzhou.

One resident, who declined to give his name fearing arrest, confirmed the details of the Radio Free Asia report.

"They're telling us not to march in the streets anymore," the man whispered as one of the loudspeaker trucks cruised by in the center of the village. "It's still tense. There are about 1,000 security officers here. They've arrested some of the protest leaders in the past few days."

Other residents said the same thing, but they were reluctant to chat much about the protests in Dongzhou, on the southeastern coast of Guangdong _ one of China's most prosperous provinces.

The grievance is just one in a series of increasingly frequent confrontations across China between police and villagers angry over land seizures for construction of factories, shopping malls and other projects.

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