CHINESE BURN

On April 23rd (Friday) villagers in China set fire to a construction site in Emei Mountain in protest at the forced demolition of their homes to make way for a government-sponsored holiday resort complex, which will include such essentials as luxury hotels, activity centres, clubs and parks.

The flare-up occurred in Baoning Village of Emeishan City, located in the scenic zone of Southwest China’s Sichuan Province, a popular tourist area. Of course, as ever, the lure of tourism profits is enough to just kick out any incumbent locals.

Around 10 villagers descended on the site, using gasoline to set alight materials within it, attacked government officials and police officers, resulting in seven people getting injured.

Over 1100 houses were deemed suitable for destruction in 5 towns across the area in accordance with a city plan back in 2001. This was temporarily put on hold following protests over the land lost by villagers but was resumed February this year. Such occurrences are quite common in China, as residents often take extreme measures to protect their homes, like throwing home made fire bombs at demolition squads.

A common strategy is holding their ground and threatening to commit suicide. There were at least 2 incidents in the past year where the residents actually killed themselves, burning themselves alive in front of the government demolition squad to protest the unfair compensation and land requisition, and to show their will to “live or die with their homes”.