Dongzhou protests
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The Dongzhou protests refers to a series of protests that took place for seven months until December 2005 in Dongzhou (东洲), a subdistrict in
Shanwei Shanwei (), or Swabue is a prefecture-level city in eastern Guangdong province, People's Republic of China. It borders Jieyang to the east, Meizhou and Heyuan to the north, Huizhou to the west, and looks out to the South China Sea to the south. I ...
prefecture A prefecture (from the Latin ''Praefectura'') is an administrative jurisdiction traditionally governed by an appointed prefect. This can be a regional or local government subdivision in various countries, or a subdivision in certain international ...
,
Guangdong Province Guangdong (, ), alternatively romanized as Canton or Kwangtung, is a coastal province in South China on the north shore of the South China Sea. The capital of the province is Guangzhou. With a population of 126.01 million (as of 2020) ...
,
China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...
. The protests were organized in opposition to government plans to partially
infill In urban planning, infill, or in-fill, is the rededication of land in an urban environment, usually open-space, to new construction. Infill also applies, within an urban polity, to construction on any undeveloped land that is not on the urban mar ...
the bay and build a new power plant. It resulted in the shooting deaths of several residents in the night of 6 December 2005 by
People's Armed Police ) , abbreviation = PAP ("People's Armed Police") CAPF ("Chinese Armed Police Force"), formerly abbreviated''Wujing'' ( zh , s = 武警 , p = Wǔjǐng , l = Armed Police , labels = no ), or WJ as on vehicle license plates , patch ...
. The death toll is unknown, with different sources mentioning anywhere from three to several dozen deaths. The protests resumed in November 2006.


Incident

The protests were held because local farmers were dissatisfied with the lack of compensation for land expropriated for the construction of the plant. They are also reportedly concerned with the potential for harmful pollution affecting their crops, while fishermen felt their livelihood would be adversely affected by the modifications to the bay. According to ''
Xinhua Xinhua News Agency (English pronunciation: )J. C. Wells: Longman Pronunciation Dictionary, 3rd ed., for both British and American English, or New China News Agency, is the official state news agency of the People's Republic of China. Xinhua ...
'', the Information Office of the government of Shanwei described the incident as "serious violation of law", in which Huang Xijun, Lin Hanru and Huang Xirang led protesters in attacking police with knives,
petrol bomb A Molotov cocktail (among several other names – ''see other names'') is a hand thrown incendiary weapon constructed from a frangible container filled with flammable substances equipped with a fuse (typically a glass bottle filled with flammab ...
s, and other explosive devices. Xinhua reported that the police fired warning shots but, in the confusion after nightfall, people were hit by mistake. Local villagers denied these accounts and reported that the protesters may have used ordinary
fireworks Fireworks are a class of Explosive, low explosive Pyrotechnics, pyrotechnic devices used for aesthetic and entertainment purposes. They are most commonly used in fireworks displays (also called a fireworks show or pyrotechnics), combining a l ...
as part of their protest. Villagers also alleged that the authorities had "enlisted thugs from local organized crime groups to help put down the demonstration" in addition to regular security forces. The subdistrict was sealed off by government forces who are searching for suspects involved in the violence and preventing people from leaving the subdistrict.


Casualties

The official New China News Agency stated that three people had been killed and eight others injured, but there are other reports that quoted residents saying as many as 20 people had been killed. There were reports that local authorities refused to return bodies to families, in some cases offering money to residents instead so that they would stop asking for the bodies. It was also reported that on 9 December, many residents held incense sticks and knelt in front of police barricades in the subdistrict, asking for the bodies of their loved ones for proper burial. These requests were refused. The ''
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'' quoted some residents who said that the officials were attempting to hide the death toll.


Aftermath

On 11 December 2005, the Chinese government announced that a police commander was detained for mishandling the protest and causing deaths and injuries. ''
Ta Kung Pao ''Ta Kung Pao'' (; formerly ''L'Impartial'') is the oldest active Chinese language newspaper in China. Founded in Tianjin in 1902, the paper is state-owned, controlled by the Liaison Office of the Central Government after the Chinese Civil War ...
'' reported on 13 December that, according to the Shanwei TV Station via
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, Wu Sheng, the vice director of the Shanwei Police Department, was placed in criminal detention by procurator bureau for mishandling the event. According to local television via ''
The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...
'', nine residents were also arrested. So far, the news has been followed closely by Hong Kong, Taiwan, dissident Chinese, and overseas media, but has received lesser coverage in
mainland China "Mainland China" is a geopolitical term defined as the territory governed by the People's Republic of China (including islands like Hainan or Chongming), excluding dependent territories of the PRC, and other territories within Greater China. ...
media. In June 2006, ''
The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'' reported that 19 residents had been prosecuted for the unrest, 7 being given long sentences for disturbing public order and using explosives against the Police. This was taken to be evidence of the Chinese government covering up the true nature of the shootings. The trial was not widely reported on and locals said that they were constantly being pressured not to talk about what happened in 2005. Construction work resumed on the plant after the protests ended, with no compensation being handed out. No public investigation of the shootings has been carried out either. In November 2006, the
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reported that tension was again mounting in Dongzhou. The report stated that residents had taken eight local officials hostage after a resident was detained. Two days later,
Radio Free Asia Radio Free Asia (RFA) is a United States government-funded private non-profit news service that broadcasts radio programs and publishes online news, information, and commentary for its audiences in Asia. The service, which provides editoriall ...
reported that the officials had been released following a dawn raid by police, but more residents had been detained. Shortly after, a similar event took place at another village in Guangdong, where residents attempted to detain officials in a dispute over compensation for loss of farm land. Clearly the events in Dongzhou are not an isolated case but part of an ongoing wave of protests against land grabs in China, which Prime Minister
Wen Jiabao Wen Jiabao (born 15 September 1942) is a retired Chinese politician who served as the Premier of the State Council from 2003 to 2013. In his capacity as head of government, Wen was regarded as the leading figure behind China's economic policy ...
has acknowledged is an "historic error".


See also

*
Human rights in the People's Republic of China Human rights in mainland China are periodically reviewed by the United Nations Human Rights Committee (UNHRC), on which the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), government of the People's Republic of China (PRC) and various foreign governments and h ...
*
Siege of Wukan The Wukan protests (), also known as the Siege of Wukan, was an anti-corruption protest that began in September 2011, and escalated in December 2011 with the expulsion of officials by villagers, the siege of the town by police, and subsequent d ...
(2011), some 25 km to the northeast *
Tangshan Protest The Tangshan protest occurred in 2004 after more than 11,000 farmers in Hebei Province, China, signed a petition calling for the removal of Communist Party officials who were allegedly involved in corruption. The protest led to a crackdown on righ ...


References

* * * *
"Beijing imposes news blackout on Dongzhou shootings"
– ''IFEX'', 20 December 2005.

- ''The New York Times'', 27 June 2006


Notes


External links


Guangdong Power Project Stalls Amid Land Dispute
Radio Free Asia Radio Free Asia (RFA) is a United States government-funded private non-profit news service that broadcasts radio programs and publishes online news, information, and commentary for its audiences in Asia. The service, which provides editoriall ...

thestandard.com.hk
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dongzhou Protests Conflicts in 2005 Conflicts in 2006 2005 in China Protests in China Shanwei Rural community development 2005 protests