High drama as village levelled
Two villagers were knocked unconscious yesterday during a confrontation with more than 100 riot police. The clash was sparked by the demolition of their makeshift homes on Xiaoguwei island, site of Guangzhou's University Town.
A young woman was knocked out by a bamboo pole which fell on her head, while a middle-aged woman was unconscious after being beaten with an electric truncheon. Both were attempting to stop the demolition squad.
The Panyu district officers advanced into Guolang village, which has been flattened to make way for the University Town in mid-morning after 50 women, children and elderly people blocked their path at the entrance and hurled abuse for two hours.
'Bandits! Corrupt officials!' the Guolang residents shouted, waving a copy of a State Council regulation protecting the rights of peasants in cases of contentious relocation.
The 260 villagers were ordered to remove their tents by Tuesday and on Wednesday were told to pack their belongings.
However, early yesterday they were still sitting around complaining about corrupt officials until about 50 uniformed officers from the relocation office arrived.
They later called in police officers who threw a cordon around the tents, sparking the scuffles that left the two women injured. By noon, the shelters beside a man-made lake that has taken the place of Guolang village were flattened.
A group of children sat on the wheels of a bulldozer and in its scoop after it had flattened two tents, effectively stopping the machine for about an hour before four men grabbed one boy, Guo Yaojun , and removed him. 'I was not afraid at all. I want them to return our house. They have no right to tear down my house,' the 11-year-old said later.
After lunch, the demolition squad moved on to another tent settlement in Beiting village, where a similar-sized community lives.
The Guolang residents said they watched their shelters being pulled down the first time in January because they had been intimidated by a series of arrests, but decided they would not make it easy this time.
In January, the demolition squad went to the extent of recovering personal belongings stored in the village's memorial hall, and crushing and burying them.
The villagers have vowed to fight for compensation. One villager said the Guangdong provincial government had allocated 4.6 billion yuan to relocate them, giving 100,000 yuan per head and 2,000 yuan per square metre for their houses.
But Panyu district, which is managing the relocation, is paying only 20,000 yuan per head and 500 to 600 yuan per square metre.
'The original sum ... we could have accepted. We were willing to give up our land ... but they are evicting us and they are paying us too little,' he said.
