China family-planning protests flare anew

BEIJING, May 31 (Reuters) Hundreds of Chinese peasants have protested over family-planning rules in an area hit by similar demonstrations earlier this month, state media said today, with some setting fire to government vehicles.

The protesters in the Yangmei township of Rongxian county, in the southwestern region of Guangxi, gathered in front of a family-planning office on Tuesday to demand a refund of fines levied for having more than one child, the China Daily said.

''Some of them forced their way into the office, smashed furniture and set fire to government vehicles,'' an unnamed local government spokesman was quoted as saying.

China launched its one-child policy in 1980 to curb a ballooning population, now at more than 1.3 billion. The rules vary from city to countryside but usually limit families to one or, at most, two children.

The sometimes arbitrary enforcing measures, such as hefty fines and forced abortions, have long fuelled tension between officials and residents.

Thousands of people rioted in several towns in the nearby country of Bobai from May 17-20 in possibly the most drastic outbursts of discontent over the drive so far, ransacking government buildings, burning cars and clashing with police.

Reuters AGL DB1010