In the Guangdong city of Lufeng, where protesters clashed with authorities for several days in September over the sale of their land to developers, thousands have petitioned the local government and marched peacefully on Monday in continued opposition to corruption and a series of local land grabs. From AFP:
“Yesterday, 4,500 people signed their signature to support this (protest),” a marcher surnamed Zhang told AFP by phone.
“The government promised to solve the land problem but they haven’t… If they don’t handle it this time, it won’t be peaceful next time.”
The protest centres around land requisitioned in Wukan village, which comes under the jurisdiction of the Lufeng government.
Locals have accused authorities of forcibly grabbing the land and not compensating them, but the government insists the process was lawful.
Today’s peaceful demonstration lacked the hostility and aggression of other recent incidents in Guangdong. Last week, a violent protest erupted in the city of Zhongshan after residents of a nearby village accused a former official of selling off their land without any compensation.
See also previous CDT coverage of the rise in “mass incidents” as a means to address specific grievances in China.
