Beijing (AsiaNews/Agencies) – On now has news emerged of events which took place over a month ago, which speak of an urban guerrilla war in the small town of Yantan (Guangxi), where hundreds of police and soldiers clashed with over 10 thousand farmers and labourers over a four day period from June 1 to 4.  The farmers where calling for their rightful compensation for lands taken from them to build a dam.  The police intervened to prevent then from presenting a petition to the local governor and from demonstrating near the dam. There were many arrests.

Yantan was flooded years ago with a dam built across the Red River.  The residents protest that having lost their land they have no other way of earning a living and that many have also lost their homes: the government has given each family a subsidy of 30 Yuan (4 dollars) a month, without the least attention to the amount of land lost.  In 2006 Beijing in fact sent 2.8 million Yuan (370 thousand dollars) in compensation, by the local population say that the vast majority of the money was pocketed by local officials.  Now – reports the daily newspaper Mingpao, who covered the event after a month – the situation is calm, after the government began negotiations with the local residents, who are asking for 150 Yuan (20 dollars) a month.

Land requisition, illegal and without just compensation, is the principal cause of over 10 thousand mass protests which take place all over China each year and which often result in violent clashes between protesters and police.  The local government takes the land from the farmers to build factories or residential zones.  The farmers are often left without any means of support and even loose their homes, without ever receiving just compensation.  Beijing has long asked the local governments to cease these requisitions, also because it is alarmed by the decrease in agricultural land, but to no great result.