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Beijing: A Chinese court jailed three villagers for up to five years in prison yesterday for their roles in a violent protest over factory pollution, defence lawyers said. China has seen a surge of bitter, sometimes violent, protests over rampant official corruption, a widening wealth gap, pollution and land grabs. Official record showed there were 74,000 "mass incidents" in 2004, up by 16,000 from 2003. Thousands rioted outside the city of Dongyang in eastern Zhejiang province last April injuring up to 50 policemen after rumours spread that two of about 200 elderly women keeping a two-week vigil at an industrial site died during police efforts to disperse them.
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