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SCMP Reporter

Witnesses to the  shooting of villagers in Guangdong on Tuesday  allege the police opened fire on the crowd after some villagers threw Molotov cocktails at them.

At least one police officer was said to have been badly wounded during the clash related to a land requisition dispute in Dongzhou village, Shanwei .

Eight villagers were reportedly shot dead when the police officers returned fire.

A spokesman for the Foreign Ministry yesterday said details about the incident were not clear, but the government would investigate the matter.

Witnesses in Dongzhou said the villagers had tried to stop the police officers from entering their village. Tensions flared and several villagers allegedly threw Molotov cocktails at the officers.

At least one hit an officer and set him on fire. The police then started firing.

'I saw one officer fire a shot towards the sky,' one man said.

'I immediately fell to the ground and heard a few more shots. I don't know if the shots were aimed at the crowd,' he said.

The atmosphere in Shanwei was tense last night.

Hundreds of police were deployed outside the village, blocking all the exits and entrances.

The hospital where the injured were treated was also heavily guarded.

Mainland and foreign reporters  were turned away, with some  detained by police for hours.

Villagers  had complained they received inadequate compensation for land taken from them to build a coal-fired power plant.

They claimed that if construction went ahead, they would lose access to Baisha Lake, which they had relied on for fish and power generation. The villagers also claimed local officials would use the revenue from the land sale to finance the coal-fired power plant, which would pollute the area, one  person said.



Dongzhou villager describes fatal clash