Calm has returned to two townships in south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region which saw the
latest flare-ups in a series of protests against local family
planning policies on Tuesday, a local government spokesman
said.
Hundreds of people in the Yangmei township of Rongxian County
gathered in front of the local family planning office at midday
Tuesday, contesting penalties levied for having more than one
child, said a spokesman with the county government.
The protestors brandished papers claiming the penalty for a
second child had been reduced to 1,000 yuan, and demanded a refund,
the spokesman said.
Some of them forced their way into the office, where they
smashed furniture and set fire to government vehicles, he
added.
Local police said the protestors had been incited by a small
group of ringleaders whose dialect indicated they were not natives
of the county.
The instigators reportedly quoted a so-called "government paper"
that said the maximum penalty for having a second child was only a
few thousand yuan, while locals had been forced to pay at least
10,000 yuan (US$1,300).
The county government said their "government paper" was a fake
and penalties being levied were in line with laws.
The spokesman said a similar incident was reported in the same
county’s Lingshan township at midday Tuesday, when several hundred
people smashed window panes at the township government office.
By late afternoon, calm had returned to all the townships, he
said.
At a meeting held on Tuesday night, county government officials
and Yulin city officials agreed they would listen to the locals'
complaints and work to resolve conflicts in the interest of social
stability.
Incidents were also reported in Bobai County, not far from
Rongxian, from May 17 to 20, when government facilities and
documents were damaged and vehicles torched. Twenty-eight people
suspected of instigating the attacks were detained by police,
according to the local government.
In these incidents the protestors also complained that local
government workers were "rude" and "suspected of collecting illegal
fees" in dealing with violators of the country's family planning
policy.
(Xinhua News Agency May 31, 2007)