Tense stand-off between Chinese villagers and police

Farmers and fishermen have reportedly taken eight Communist party officials hostage in a fresh flare-up of tension in Dongzhou village, the site of the most murderous crackdown by Chinese police in recent memory.

Less than a year after paramilitary forces shot and killed at least three protesters, villagers are once again locked into a stand-off with the authorities over the arrest of a local activist.

According to Radio Free Asia, several hundred police have moved to the outskirts of Dongzhou, near Shanwei port in the wealthy southern province of Guangdong.

They began moving in yesterday afternoon and positioned themselves along the highway. The number grew larger today, one villager told the radio station. "The police at the village entrance don't dare enter," another resident surnamed Huang told Reuters.

A human rights campaigner who asked to remain anonymous said the confrontation started on November 9 when police seized a local activist, Chen Qian, as he was hanging up anti-corruption banners in the village.

The next day hundreds of residents reportedly marched on the local Communist party office and took eight cadres hostage after they refused to release Chen.

In negotiations with the authorities the villagers have offered to swap prisoners, but last night the local government told them that it would not compromise.

Calls to the Dongzhou public security bureau and local homes went unanswered. A Chinese journalist who has been in touch with villagers said residents are afraid to talk because they believe their telephone conversations are monitored.

Dongzhou has been locked down since December 6 last year, when police opened fire on a demonstration by thousands of local people protesting against the seizure of their land for a coal-fired power station.

The state-run Xinhua news agency said protesters had attacked police with homemade explosives. Villagers say the death toll was higher than the three fatalities reported in the media.

Protests over land seizures, pollution and corruption have increased rapidly during the past decade of rapid economic growth, prompting the central government to strengthen rural police forces and introduce measures to improve the lives of farmers left behind by booming cities.

Government figures released this month suggested the number of protests, riots and other "mass incidents" fell to 17,900 in the first nine months of this year, down 22% on the same period in 2005.