Four farmers arrested for leading protest at high-speed railway station

Four Guangdong farmers protesting against allegedly corrupt village officials were arrested on Thursday night after organising a demonstration on the platform of a high-speed railway station in Puning.

Shortly after 8pm the farmers had led more than 40 villagers onto the railway station platform after tearing down fencing around the station, the municipal press office said.

The protest forced train services to be suspended for about 20 minutes, the local government said.

The demonstration followed the arrests of six other Mazha village residents in Puning earlier that day. The group of six were accused of instigating villagers to gather and make trouble in public places, a charge that usually applies to demonstrations.

The villagers have staged a series of protests since September over what they say are irregularities concerning local land, finance, water resources and housing allocation.

The Puning municipal government said it had sent nine teams to the village after receiving repeated petitions made by its residents.