Riot-hit Chinese county eases family planning drive

BEIJING, May 23 (Reuters) A county in southwest China where a family planning drive sparked riots last week has eased tough measures that inflamed public anger, officials said today, but it is pressing on with efforts to cut population growth.

Twenty-eight people were detained in Bobai county, Guangxi region, after hundreds of protesters fought officials and police, burnt vehicles and attacked government offices, Xinhua news agency reported, blaming resistance to family planning rules.

Some locals said thousands protested.

Officials in Bobai said residents were reacting against a harsh drive to rein in ''excess births'' imposed by Yulin city, which oversees the county.

The campaign had stirred resentment among people used to ignoring national policies that usually limit families to one or, at most, two children, they said.

A family planning clinic chief in one of the towns struck by the protest told Reuters that sweeping checks and fines had been suspended while the government seeks to douse public anger.

''Family planning is a national policy and Yulin city has demanded that residents stop flouting laws and regulations,'' said the official, who only gave his surname, Luo.

''There has been a lot of pressure on officials who don't understand family planning work and the situation got out of hand, but that's stopped now.'' China imposed the ''one-child'' policy from the late 1970s, and officials credit it with keeping the country's current population to about 1.3 billion and so boosting prosperity. But the rules are resented in many parts of the restive countryside where children, especially boys, are considered a safety net.

Banners with stern warnings against over-sized families have been removed from around Bobai, replaced by more ''neutral'' slogans, the Hong Kong-based Wen Wei Pao newspaper reported on Wednesday.

But Bobai remained committed to halting ''excess births'' in the county, said Luo.

''The goal won't change, but the methods will be adjusted,'' he said.

In February, Guangxi officials criticised the county for lax population controls, and Bobai officials launched a plan to collect ''social support fees'' for children born outside official limits after 1980, the Hong Kong paper reported.

The official Guangxi Daily reported in March that after the ''yellow card'' warning, Bobai had mobilised 5,896 officials to impose family planning controls.

The officials were ordered to collect at least 500 yuan (66 dollars) in fines and at least induce one woman to have a tubal ligation -- to prevent further births -- by August, the Hong Kong paper reported. Luo and other officials refused to comment on the report.

An official in the county propaganda office told Reuters that government workers had now been sent to villages to monitor residents and ease resentment about the family planning rules. She refused to give her name.

REUTERS LPB VV1226