(May 23, 2002) Residents of Dongzhou village in Guangdong province say authorities killed up to 20 people Tuesday when they fired on demonstrators protesting inadequate compensation payments for land taken for a power plant.

(Excerpt)

China on Saturday made its first official comment on a clash between authorities and demonstrators in a southern Chinese village in which an unknown number of people were killed, saying hundreds of armed villagers “incited by a few instigators” had assaulted police.

Residents of Guangdong province’s Dongzhou village, northeast of Hong Kong, have said authorities killed up to 20 people Tuesday when they fired on demonstrators protesting allegedly inadequate payments for land taken for a power plant.

The province has formed a special group to investigate the incident, the official Xinhua New Agency said.

It quoted the city government as saying that hundreds of villagers “incited by a few instigators” had violently attacked a wind power plant on Tuesday and assaulted police in a “serious violation of the law.”

The villagers used knives, steel spears, sticks, dynamite, petroleum bombs and fishing detonators to attack the plant, Xinhua said.

Police used tear gas to disperse the crowd and arrested two insurgents, it said.

However, the attackers regrouped, and when it became dark they began throwing explosives at police, it said.

“Police were forced to open fire in alarm. In the chaos, three villagers died, eight were injured with three of them fatally injured,” Xinhua said.

Associated Press, May 23, 2002