Printer Friendly | Email Article | RSS

BEIJING (Reuters) - A scuffle between street performers and officials trying to shoo them off has sparked a riot in southern China at the weekend involving up to 10,000 people, officials say.

In the north, two policemen were killed at the weekend when about 200 construction workers sought the release of colleagues in detention.

The unrelated incidents, some 2,000 km (1,245 miles) apart, were the latest in a string of riots and violent protests in China against perceived abuses of power by officials.

A widening wealth gap and rampant corruption have also fuelled a growing number of demonstrations by the disgruntled and disenfranchised -- a challenge that analysts say has leaders in the ruling Communist Party worried.

"People at the lower levels, some unemployed workers and peasants, have completely lost hope in the future, so they take measures like these to protect their rights," said liberal author Yu Jie. "They have tried all other methods."

In the southern region of Guangxi, roughly 500 km (310 miles) west of Hong Kong, a scuffle broke out after officials tried to get buskers, some of whom were disabled, to move on, an official at the Qinzhou City Construction Inspection Team told Reuters.

"The officials persuaded the buskers to go, telling them they were violating regulations. The buskers said they'd like to sing for another half hour and the officials agreed," she said.

"Then one of the officials took a picture of the buskers for later inspection. The buskers got angry, saying the photograph violated their rights, and scrambled for the official's camera, causing a fight," she said by telephone.

Another official with the team said once the officials and buskers started to scuffle, about a dozen bystanders jumped in and the fight grew.

Ultimately, he said, some 10,000 people had gathered.

"A group of people aroused the riot premeditatedly using the disabled people as a fuse," he said.

The protagonists were owners of three-wheeled vehicles for hire around town as taxis who were unhappy about a planned change in the rules regulating their business, said the official who asked not to be named.

At one point, a crowd of 300 people converged on the local police station with sticks and rocks, smashing windows, he said. They later moved on to the city construction inspection team's office and destroyed cars and windows.

In Shanxi province, west of Beijing, construction workers drove 12 trucks and cars to the local traffic administration on Sunday in protest against the holding of two workers for investigation over a traffic accident, a police officer said.

"They went there to ask that their people be returned and drove the trucks into the crowd and hit two policemen, killing them," said the policeman, who declined to be named.

"They also smashed the windows of several police vehicles," he said from Wanrong county.

The Beijing Youth Daily said the protesters attacked the traffic police station.

Several police officers were injured in the scuffle and four of the workers were detained.

"In future, there will be more and more of these kinds of situations," Yu, the author, said.

Chinese media is barred from reporting many, if not most, such events and Yu said foreign media probably caught wind of less than 10 percent of the total incidents around the country.

Despite strict government controls, more than 3 million people staged about 58,000 protests across China last year, a jump of 15 percent from the previous year, according to the Communist Party magazine, Outlook.

More World Suicide bomber hits Baghdad checkpoint Abbas calls for end to armed struggle Indian train crash kills 27 Iraq mass grave may have 500 bodies Poland to cut Iraq troop number MORE