Chinese police step in as protesters take officials captive, pelt them with eggs
Demonstrations stem from land dispute over plant nursery
Police in Yunnan province have questioned 73 people following protests in which crowds vandalised a plant nursery and pelted government officials with eggs.
The protesters, in Longyang district in Baoshan, were calling for the nursery’s land contract to be terminated, according to People.cn, a website run by the Communist Party mouthpiece People’s Daily.
The website said discontent had been simmering since April, though the contract – which awards 39,673 square metres of collective land to a local resident surnamed Zhao – was signed 10 years ago.
Hainan farmers protest decades-long land dispute
On May 10, some residents upset with officials’ handling of the dispute held a gathering of more than 300 people that spun out of control and ended in crowds destroying more than 60 of Zhao’s plants and damaging a 400-metre wall of the plant nursery. The damage was estimated at more than 100,000 yuan (HK$119,000).
Police arrived and brought the situation under control, according to the website. It did not say why the disputes were occurring so long after the contract was first signed.
The next day, another protest involving 300 people became rowdy, it said. The protesters detained two local government officials for four hours, threatening and beating them and pelting them with eggs.
The officials, a man surnamed Wu, 48, and a woman, Wang, 52, were released after police intervened. No injuries to protesters were reported.
