Chinese villagers demand return of illegally seized land

Thousands march to denounce corrupt officials and factory strikes spread as sluggish demand hits workers' pay

Residents protest outside the city government building in Lufeng, China, to demand the return of land they say was illegally seized. Photograph: Reuters

Thousands of villagers angry that officials failed to address their grievances after riots two months ago marched to a government office in southern China to demand the return of land they say was illegally seized, witnesses and media said.

The protest came after a series of strikes in factories in Guangdong province, China's economic powerhouse.

Rural land disputes are increasing and spreading to the undeveloped west of the country, according to a poll published in October in a magazine run by Xinhua news agency.

One witness identifying himself by his surname Yang said by phone that 4,000 villagers and farmers from Wukan surrounded government offices in Lufeng City on Monday. The protesters denounced local officials as greedy and corrupt. They dispersed after an hour without incident.

A villager surnamed Zhang, who sent photographs of the protest to Reuters, said authorities had failed to tackle collusion between developers and local officials. No progress had been made in renegotiating inequitable land deals back to 1998.

"They have done nothing for us. They lied," Zhang said by phone from Wukan.

Residents of Lufeng ransacked government offices two months ago over the same issue.

There are also reports of a round of industrial disputes over pay and benefits in export hubs such as Guangdong, as overseas demand for Chinese goods weakens amid a sluggish western economy.

Hong Kong's Sing Tao Daily said on Tuesday at least 500 female workers at a bra factory in Shenzhen had protested in the past few days about overtime pay.

Thousands of workers at a factory in Dongguan city, Guangdong, manufacturing shoes for brands including New Balance, Nike and Adidas went on strike last week over wage cuts and redundancies, Ming Pao Daily reported.

Workers at PepsiCo bottling plants in China protested earlier this month at a deal in which beverage and noodle maker Tingyi will buy the loss-making bottling business. The head of PepsiCo's China operations pledged to protest workers' rights following the stoppages.