Guangdong Villagers Clash with 1,000 Police:

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 GUANGZHOU 032264

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C O N F I D E N T I A L

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STATE FOR EAP/CM AND DRL
PACOM FOR FPA

E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/13/16
TAGS: PGOV PHUM SOCI CH
SUBJECT: Guangdong Villagers Clash with 1,000 Police:
Latest Example of a Troubled Area

REF: Guangzhou 29575


1. (U) Classified by Consul General Robert Goldberg.
Reason 1.4 (d).


2. (C) SUMMARY AND COMMENT: Western and Hong Kong media
sources reported that on November 8, villagers protesting in
Shunde, Guangdong, (one hour southwest of Guangzhou)
detained around 300 officials and foreign dignitaries at an
opening ceremony of a new warehouse. On November 9, about
1,000 riot police used tear gas and attack dogs to clear out
the protestors (no arrests or injuries reported). The
Sanzhou village protest was not an isolated incident, but
rather reflects simmering unrest in the village and
throughout the nearby region. Incidents of this sort do not
seem to be linked in any organized manner. END SUMMARY AND
COMMENT.


3. (U) Western and Hong Kong media reported that between
5,000-10,000 residents of Sanzhou village, Lunjiao
township, Shunde district, Foshan municipality blockaded
the entrance to a grand-opening ceremony of a grain
warehouse, leaving about 300 government officials and
foreign guests (from Thailand, Germany, Britain and Hong
Kong) detained inside. Residents claimed the warehouse was
built on land that was taken from that at an unfair price.
The villagers said that a foreign businessman paid
officials RMB 135,000, USD 16,875, per mu (1 mu equals 0.16
acres) for the warehouse, but villagers only received RMB
35,000, USD 4,375, per mu, and the difference was
supposedly pocketed by officials. The villagers eventually
let the international guests leave, but detained officials
for 18 hours, demanding that they investigate and punish
corrupt village chiefs. On the morning of November 9,
about 1,000 riot police arrived and dispersed the crowd
using tear gas and attack dogs. So far no arrests or
injuries have been reported. Shunde Foreign Affairs
officers told congenoffs that they were not aware of the
incident and had no comment.

Background to Sanzhou Incident
--------------

4. (U) Since the beginning of last year, Sanzhou villagers
have been complaining to local officials about compensation
problems. According to Hong Kong's Apple Daily, one
villager said that half of Sanzhou's 9,000 acres was sold
illegally by officials last year. Villagers protested the
sale 10 times to the provincial government and some of
villagers even traveled to Beijing to protest, however,
Sanzhou village officials were unwilling to share any
information about village transactions. The villagers then
began a more aggressive strategy. On June 13, a small
group of protestors demonstrated against a development
project on land they believed had been illegally
confiscated. According to the Apple Daily, about 100 hired
thugs assaulted the protestors, forcing them to leave. The
protestors then incited others and about 10,000 villagers
returned to the scene and detained the thugs for two days.

Foshan: A Problematic Municipality
--------------


5. (U) The Sanzhou incident is one of many examples of
rural unrest in the Foshan area, particularly in the
districts of Shunde and Nanhai. Both districts, originally
rural areas, have undergone rapid industrialization, which
has converted most of the farmland into commercial use.
Villagers say they have gained little from the development.
In October 2005, the Guangdong government announced a plan
to deal with the situation. The government's new measures
on "Administration of Collectively Owned Land for
Construction Purposes," promised to allow farmers to
conduct transactions on collectively owned non-arable land.
Two years before the implementation of the new measures,
Shunde and Nanhai were chosen as pilot project areas,
because of their problems with land compensation.


6. (SBU) The measures have thus far been ineffective. In
April of this year, Hong Kong press reported another
protest in Nanhai's Nanzhuang township, where about 300-400
villagers blockaded an industrial park to protest the
detention of five villagers. The villagers were seeking
restitution for the allocation of more than 200 hectares of
farmland for the construction of the Foshan National High-
Tech Industries Development Zone without village approval.

GUANGZHOU 00032264 002 OF 002


In June, seven villagers in Nanhai's Sanshan village were
secretly arrested for protesting illegal land seizures in

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2005. On September 18, the villagers' court hearings
began, sparking interest among Chinese dissident circles.

Connections Between Protests?
--------------


7. (C) According to the SCMP's Leu Siew Ying (protect),
economics is at the center of Foshan's problems. The gains
by the region's rich, land-thirsty developers have not been
shared with local residents. When speaking with villagers,
Leu said she heard frequent complaints about land
compensation and low job prospects. (Note: Leu told poloff
she was not allowed by SCMP editors to report on the recent
Sanzhou protest because of difficulties with local
authorities. On August 15 Leu was detained while trying to
report on the anniversary of the Taishi incident and she
has been searched numerous times when leaving the country,
see reftel. End note). In Foshan, most young people have
left the village for better-paying jobs in the city, while
those who remain are forced to survive on a few hundred RMB
a month.


8. (C) According to the Chinese Human Rights Defender's
website ("Weiquan Wang"),Zhao Xin from the Empowerment and
Rights Institute as well as other activists are in contact
with the seven arrested villagers from Nanhai's Sanzhou
village. Additionally, Shunde and Nanhai share a border
with Guangzhou's Panyu district, the scene of the 2005
Taishi incident. Nevertheless, Leu does not believe there
is a direct connection among these various protests in
Foshan. While the villagers are aware of incidents such as
Taishi, she said, "they are not uniting together in an
organized manner."

GOLDBERG