Inside China Today

Forced demolition in Dongtai with thousands besieged

News on December 22 revealed that developers in Dongtai, Jiangsu Province forcefully dismantled  a local public bridge a few days ago by hiring thugs to curb residents from preventing the action, resulting in a number of injuries which triggered a public unrest involving a thousand people. Some residents report that police assisted the assailants on the scene.

On Saturday night the developer mobilized a large excavator as well as dozens of thugs, in the absence of any notice, dismantling Yanjia Bridge connecting the North and the South that was financed and constructed by the publicly raised funds.

At that time, a resident, Mr. Zhang at the scene told reporters: “In the absence of any procedure or any formalities, the excavator was deployed to dismantle the bridge while being aided with fifty to sixty hired thugs who said that they had bribed by the government for anyone who turned up to impede to be bashed to death. The number of on-lookers gathered on the scene had reached a thousand.

When a reporter called Heduoqiao District Police Station to inquire on Monday, a police named Zhang claimed the developer had obtained the consent by the government.

Another anonymous resident who eye-witnessed the incident expressed that in the Saturday night conflict, many people had been wounded. The violence has led to widespread discontent with the local population: the impact is very bad.

Miss Din, another resident, said: “Our side of the bridge was demolished during the night, which  has made many nearby residents lives inconvenient. Some local people went to appeal to the government.” Residents at Xuefu East Road reported the incident to the government, the Letters and Complaints Office and the Mayor in joint petition, but in vain.

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