Mayor vows crackdown on China village protesters

Residents of Wukan, a fishing village in the southern province of Guangdong, rally to demand the government take action over illegal land grabs and the death in custody of a local leader on December

December 16, 2011

"We must have no fear and we must stand up for our rights. I am not afraid."

WUKAN, China (AFP) - Authorities in southern China have vowed to crack down on the instigators of a rare revolt against local Communist leaders by villagers who say corrupt officials stole their land.

Wukan, a village in the wealthy southern province of Guangdong with about 13,000 inhabitants, has been under police blockade for more than a week after local leaders fled under pressure from furious residents.

Anger at authorities boiled over on Sunday when Xue Jinbo, a villager held on charges of instigating September riots that saw a police station attacked, died in police custody. Villagers say they believe he was beaten to death.

Wukan has been the scene of repeated and at times violent protests over land seizures, a hugely contentious issue in China, where authorities are accused of colluding with developers in lucrative real estate deals.

Khmer Krom people are protesting land issues in Prey Nokor (HCMC)

02 October 2007
By Hassan
Radio Free Asia
Translated from Khmer by Heng Soy

On Monday, Khmer Krom people indicated that about 100 Khmer Krom people from Khleang and Motr Chrouk provinces (Chau Doc and An Giang in Vietnamese), and from Kramuon Sar province (Rach Gia and Kien Giang in Vietnamese), have gathered to protest in front the (Communist Vietnamese) Party headquarters in Prey Nokor (Ho Chi Minh City) because they lost their lands which provided them a living.

Chev In, a representative of the Khmer Krom people from Motr Chrouk province told RFA that the reason they can no longer tolerate (the situation), and must hold their demonstration, is because the Vietnamese government didn’t live up to its promises.

Chev In said: “Right now, they (the Vietnamese) do not want to resolve the problem for our people. They are still delaying it, we ask them also, they told us to wait for a resolution, we didn’t see any resolution. Like me for example, they took away almost 1-hectare of my land to build a market. I went to the higher level authority, they told me to go to the commune office, when I went there, they told me to go to the district office for a resolution. People are fed up, they came to protest at the commune office also. Now, if they don’t resolve it for us, we will go further, we are fed up with it now. Yesterday, more than 100 people came from Srok Traing and Svay Tong also, we are going to Prey Nokor today.”

Regarding the case of Monk Tim Sakhorn, the former abbot of the Phnom Den pagoda in Takeo province, the Vietnamese authority announced that he will be released, however, nothing has been done since then,

A Khmer Krom monk said: “Regarding the case of Monk Tim Sakhorn, they (the Vietnamese authority) said that this Saturday, they will release him, that’s what they claim. They told the people and the village chief that this Saturday, they will release Monk Tim Sakhorm. I was waiting to see this, but now we didn’t see him released yet, we don’t know the time of his release, I’m not sure if they’ll let us see him or not. But, based on what I heard, maybe they will release him in secret, these people (the Vietnamese) never release people in public.”

Cambodia: The land where injustice is the norm rather than the exception

Cambodia alienating its own

THURSDAY, AUGUST 09, 2007
By Hamish Macdonald in Sihanoukville
Al Jazeera

In Cambodia, tens of thousand of people are being forced to seek temporary shelter after government land seizures had left them homeless. The conditions faced by many of those evicted from their homes are dire.

There is little food, no proper shelter, no running water and no health care, reports Al Jazeera from Sihanoukville in Cambodia's south.

A week ago these families had homes. Tonight they shelter in tents. They lived on "contested" property. The local government threw them off and the army destroyed what was left.

Tents offer no protection from the elements

Sok Mom, an evicted resident, said: "I just want to go back to my home, or at least get some land to build a new home."

Most of those evicted by the government, infants and their sick, crying mothers, spend their life under makeshift shelters.

Ros Saoita, another evicted resident, said: "They had guns. They burned down our house, took all our property… our rice, our clothes. We came here with nothing."

These families have been living here for only a week but already conditions are squalid.

The smell in some parts of the camp is overpowering and given the current wet season, the families barely have any protection from the elements.

Shelter after shelter the stories are the same. No compensation, nowhere to go.

The next day the evicted residents took Al Jazeera to the place where only a week ago they had homes and livelihoods.

The Land Act passed in 2001 did little to protect villagers, favouring wealthy developers instead

The fourth village on Cambodia's southern coastline has now been earmarked for redevelopment.

Like most rural villagers in this country, the people of this village held no land title. The Khmer Rouge destroyed the records during its four-year rule in the 1970's.

A new Land Act passed in 2001 did little to protect them, favouring wealthy developers instead.

Yash Ghai, a UN representative, said there were "many gaps in the law" which rendered the land titles very dubious as there was no comprehensive system of land law.

"The people who suffer from all that are poor people, indigenous communities. So, I would say there are many violations of human rights and other laws that take place through the medium of the courts," he said.

The authorities moved in on another village nearby and destroyed everything, forcibly removing the residents.

Pung Chhiv Kek, a human rights activist, said the people have already suffered during Cambodia's many years of civil war and the period of genocide.

"And now they suffer. You cannot just simply say 'go away'. Where are they going [to go]? They are citizens of this country... the government should find a place for them."

The displaced live in squalid conditions

Another 10,000 people displaced by government land seizures have found shelter in a camp on the outskirts of the capital, Phnom Penh.

At least there is medical care at this camp but seasonal rains are having an effect here too.

They've been here a year and already at least 10 children have died after contracting dengue fever, including young children.

Phan Chendaa, whose seven-year-old son died of dengue, said: "I am angry. When I was in Phnom Penh we had enough food to eat. When we moved here life got worse, now we don't have enough food."

Seizure of land is one of the biggest issues facing Cambodia.

The government maintains it is legal, but declined to be interviewed by Al Jazeera for this story.