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Police said the people detained also falsely claimed that a large banquet held for villagers was to celebrate the huge compensation offered in the demolition programme. Photo: SCMP Pictures

Three detained for spreading rumour about families getting millions for Shenzhen home demolitions

Two men and woman made up story to attract more readers to their public social media account, police say

Three people have been placed in detention for five days after fabricating a rumour that each household in a suburban village in Shenzhen would get compensation of at least 200 million yuan (HK$229 million) for the demolition of their homes to make way for a commercial project.

Two men and one woman made up the story and published it on a public account they run on WeChat, which later was widely shared, Shenzhen police said on Wednesday.

The three made up the story to attract more readers and they were detained for spreading rumours, the police statement said.

One WeChat post said the village famous for its jewellery making industry, parts of which were targeted for demolition by the local government, held a banquet for 530 tables to celebrate the huge amount of compensation residents were offered.

It joked there were still 38 men and 83 women in Shuibei who were single and urged readers to date them.

However, the boss of the company which headed the demolition project later told local media that while there had been a banquet, the level compensation was not that high.

Some families, however, did get up to 100 million yuan for their homes.

The man was quoted as saying that a banquet was held in September to mark the latest progress in the demolition work, which is expected to finish in 2019.

There were 400 tables served at a banquet in 2015 and the increase this year was because many villagers who have moved to Hong Kong also returned to attend.

About 1,000 people have been affected by the demolition work.

The number of single people supposedly in the village was also made up, the company boss said.

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