Village highway protest blocks builder's land-grab

By Song Shengxia

Villagers who blocked the traffic of a national highway to protest the take-over of their farmland for a development project scored a partial victory on Thursday when local government promised to suspend the project.

In yet another land acquisition dispute, more than 300 villagers in Luquan, Hebei Province, blocked national highway 307 after a woman villager who attempted to stop construction on her farmland was attacked and beaten by workers for a local developer, the Shengze Real Estate Company.

A spokesman of Luquan told the Global Times on Thursday that the dispute originated in an old village renovation project in Shenhou, which was designed to occupy some farmlands. But the developers began construction before reaching an agreement with the villagers on compensation.

On Wednesday, more than 20 villagers went to the construction site to try to prevent work from continuing. The village woman was reportedly injured during the confrontation.

Angry villagers carried the injured protester to the Luquan section of the national highway and blocked traffic, demanding an immediate suspension of construction work.

The highway runs a length of 1,342 kilometers linking provinces and regions of Hebei, Shanxi, Shaanxi and Ningxia.

Traffic was restored six hours later after the local government promised to block the developer's construction.

"We have ordered the developer to stop work at once, and cut off its power supply on the site," said Du Yanjun, the government workgroup spokesman dispatched to the village to resolve the dispute.

He told the Global Times that the injured villager was sent to hospital and five people involved in the violence were arrested.

"We are working in the village to help resolve the dispute as soon as possible," he said.

In recent land acquisition and pollution-related disputes, villagers have resorted to blocking traffic to make their voices heard.

In July, more than 100 villagers in Zhejiang Province blocked a national highway for six hours to protest a similar development project and demand fair compensation, the China News Service reported.

In September, villagers in Fujian Province blocked a highway for several hours, demanding the shutdown of a local battery company, which they believed had poisoned their children with lead emissions, the Xinhua News Agency reported.

Du Zhixiong, a researcher at the Rural Development Institute, the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, told the Global Times that blocking highways as a way of protest is the most "economical" way for villagers, to attract attention.

"Appealing to village leaders does not work in most cases because they are often ready to pass the buck. Villagers have no money to finance trips to petition their grievances to higher authorities," Du said.

"Blocking highways can paralyze traffic and pressure authorities into listening to villagers' voices," he said.

He said to fundamentally resolve similar disputes, villagers should be given more say in negotiations over land acquisition compensation and factory locations.

"A transparent decision-making system which involves participation of villagers in public affairs and an increase in petition channels can help reduce the tension, which is often a source of unrest," he said.

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