Thousands protest land seizure in southwest China

BEIJING, July 5 (Reuters) Thousands of people protested for days against land seizures in southwestern China, besieging government offices and clashing with riot police, a human rights watchdog and a local resident said today.

Eight people have been taken into police custody in Yanjia township in Chongqing municipality since Tuesday when up to 5,000 people took to the streets, the Hong Kong-based Information Centre for Human Rights and Democracy said in a faxed statement.

At least 10 peasants were injured when they clashed with police, the group said. They smashed office equipment including computers and desks as well as two police vans.

The peasants were protesting against land grabs to expand an industrial park and what they said was unfair compensation, the group said.

Factories in the industrial park have refused to hire land-deprived farmers, it added.

Yanjia officials reached by telephone confirmed the stand-off but declined to give details.

''It has been going on for three days. There were people injured in the fight,'' an employee of a local restaurant said in a telephone interview.

Residents threw rocks at more than 100 parked police vans today, the group said.

China is grappling with popular unrest as official corruption, pollution, miscarriages of justice or even seemingly minor issues serve as flashpoints for protests and riots.

Land seizures driven by breakneck urban and industrial growth have been encroaching upon rural areas across the country. What is particularly explosive is that many officials are accused of colluding with developers to keep compulsory purchase prices well below the market rate.

Reuters AGL GC1526