From the New York Times:
A small group of artists who held a daring protest in the heart of Beijing against forced evictions last month will be compensated for giving up claims to property, a representative of the artists said Monday.
The group, from an art district known as Zheng Yang, negotiated the compensation after a single meeting with local officials, said Zhang Jun, the representative. That group, along with artists from a district called 008, protested along a wide ceremonial avenue, Chang’an Jie, that runs between Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City in late February after about 100 men wearing white masks and armed with iron rods swarmed through the two districts and beat several artists.
The attackers had been sent by a real estate developer who wanted the land, the artists said…The nearly two dozen artists marched only 500 yards before security forces broke up the protest, according to a Twitter feed from Ai Weiwei, a prominent artist who, though not threatened with eviction, was among the protesters.
Mr. Zhang declined to say how much the Zheng Yang artists will receive in compensation. Wu Yuren, a representative of the artists at 008, who are in talks for their own compensation, said the Zheng Yang artists would receive a total of $1 million. The English-language edition of Global Times, an official newspaper, reported Monday that the group would receive $880,000.
