China detains 22 people for protest against land seizure

BEIJING: At least 22 people have been detained in China for blocking a high speed train and damaging public property in a rare protest over seizure of their land by authorities without paying of proper compensation.

Residents of Mazha village in Guangdong province forced their way onto the platform of the local train station at about 8 pm (local time) on Thursday, causing the high-speed train to depart 30 minutes late.

Twenty two protesters were detained by local police for blocking train and damaging public property, state-run Xinhua news agency reported today.

The protesters stormed the station "as a stunt to draw the attention of senior officials to issues with land, money, irrigation and housing in Mazha," it said.

"Large areas of land were sold cheaply, and many villagers were never properly compensated," the report quoted a villager as saying.

The Puning government said it had sent nine teams to try to settle land disputes in Mazha since September, but villagers have continued to stage protests in a construction site and a textile mill.

Scores of protests are staged every year in China over local issues that are put down by heavy crackdowns but this is the first time people picked up courage to block high speed train to make a nationwide impact.