Guangzhou (AsiaNews) – Around 4,000 villagers from Guangdong yesterday laid siege to an enormous granary that was built on their land seized by force from the government. They are currently holding around 300 people hostage, including Communist officials and foreign guests who were attending the granary's inauguration, reported Radio Free Asia.

The villagers, all residents of Sanzhou village, surrounded the granary a few minutes after the ribbon-cutting ceremony, blocking all the exits. One of them, anonymous for security reasons, said: "There are a lot of high officials, and foreign guests from Thailand and Germany and England and Hong Kong inside."

Explaining the reason for the siege, he said: "The government has seized the land we have been cultivating for decades and local officials stole our compensation. Now at least we want our money."

Another resident of Sanzhou – which is in the northern part of the province, the "heart" of the Chinese economy – said that "when we told foreigners why we are doing this, they did not know what to do. Now they know that the loss of our lands means we are condemned to poverty. One guest said, 'Now that I have seen your plight, I will not ship any grain to this granary.'"

The Shunde Public Security Bureau, which controls the area, confirmed the incident and said it had already dispatched anti-riot squad police.

The villagers are sure the police will not attack them, because "the massacre of Shanwei on 6 December, when police killed several villagers of Guangdong who were protesting against the requisition of their land, had a very strong impact on public opinion. Beijing does not want this to happen again."

Land disputes in Sanzhou emerged in 1992, when the government stole land from residents and resold it to private investors, giving them around 6,000 yuan (around 600 euros) per head in compensation. In 2005, a petition signed by more than 10,000 called on the government to publish contracts of sale of more than 9,000 mu (1.482 acres) of land.

According to this information, land was bought by foreigners for more than 130,000 yuan per mu. But the villagers only got 30% of this sum. Residents are rebelling and accusing local officials of corruption, but their petition has been largely ignored. "The attack on the granary was our last chance," added one.