Dozens Hold Land Protest in Beijing

Dozens Hold Land Protest in Beijing

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Chinese demonstrators wearing headbands baring the words “Illegal Demolition” chant slogans during a protest in front of the Ministry of Construction in Beijing, Thursday, Jan. 24, 2008. In a rare public protest, over 50 residents from the northern city of Tianjin who claim they had their property illegally taken away by the government marched up to the Ministry of Construction in central Beijing Thursday, demanding to see the head. (AP Photo/Andy Wong) (Andy Wong – AP)

Wearing a headband baring the words “Illegal Demolition” an elderly Chinese demonstrator shows a banner reading “No More Home” during a protest in front of the Ministry of Construction in Beijing, Thursday, Jan. 24, 2008. In a rare public protest, over 50 residents from the northern city of Tianjin who claim they had their property illegally taken away by the government marched up to the Ministry of Construction in central Beijing Thursday, demanding to see the head. (AP Photo/Andy Wong) (Andy Wong – AP)

By HENRY SANDERSON

The Associated Press
Thursday, January 24, 2008; 8:11 AM

BEIJING — Protesters staged a rare public demonstration in China’s capital Thursday over what they said were illegal property seizures and compensation packages that fell far short of that needed to buy new homes.

The protest underscored how galloping urban redevelopment is leaving many Chinese behind and worsening an already yawning gap between rich and poor.China reported that its already record-high housing prices had jumped 10.5 percent in December from a year earlier, inflating the assets of Chinese who already own property but straining the ability of ordinary families to buy homes.

The protesters from the city of Tianjin said government land seizures left them with no hope of buying new homes in the booming port city, 75 miles east of Beijing.

They said that in one case the government sold the valuable land in the center of the city to developers who later entered it in a Hong Kong auction to attract investors.

Wearing white headbands emblazoned with the slogan, “It’s illegal to forcefully demolish one’s house,” the group marched in a tight circle chanting, “We want to see the bureau head.”

While protests over property seizures and other nonpolitical issues have popped up occasionally in Beijing, the one Thursday was unusually large and well-organized.

Police and security guards attempted to prevent journalists filming the demonstration and tried to rip the headbands from the protesters’ heads. Protesters, who numbered around 50, marched outside the Construction Ministry in central Beijing for about two hours before being questioned and allowed to leave.

Spokesmen for the ministry did not immediately respond to faxed questions on the protesters’ claims.

“We regular citizens can’t go on anymore. What can we do? We have no house, our homes have been demolished and we can’t even petition,” said Wang Xueyi.

Wang, 57, said she had received $14,250 in compensation for her two-bedroom home in Tianjin’s central Hexi district in 2004. She showed reporters documents which said officials sold the land to a local developer. Calls to the company named were not answered Thursday.

Wang said her husband died shortly afterward from stress. She now lives with relatives.

“The compensation is not fair. People can’t afford to buy a new house with the money,” she said.

Wang said she was detained for more than 40 days last summer when she came to Beijing to petition the government.

A man who answered the phone at the Tianjin government spokesman’s office said he was not aware of the case. He refused to give his name as is common among Chinese bureaucrats.

Another demonstrator, Feng Xuying, said her house was demolished by the local government in another district in Tianjin, Xiqing, in June 2004. The woman, who said both she and her husband were jobless, said they received $5,750 in compensation.

Feng said the couple and their two daughters were afterward given space in a hospital building while the land on which their former home stood remains unoccupied.

“I have been petitioning in Tianjin and Beijing in order to get fair treatment, but no one with the government visited us,” she said.