Government decision stirs riots in northwest China

Job losses feared amid moving of local headquarters

BEIJING - A local government's decision to move its administrative headquarters from one city to another has provoked two days of unrest in northwest China, according to state media and witnesses, who said protestors had burned police cars and looted government offices in Longnan, a prefectural capital in southern Gansu province.

A local newspaper and Xinhua, the official news agency, said the skirmishes began on Monday and involved 2,000 people. Witnesses reached by phone, however, said the crowds had swelled to more than 10,000, many of whom were still battling the police last night.

Although the state media did not explain the source of the unrest, local residents said many of the protesters were motivated by the government's decision to transfer its offices to another city. The move, residents said, would deprive Longnan of desperately needed jobs and spur a drop in real estate values.

Riots are not uncommon in China, but as the economy slows, the government is acutely sensitive to unrest. Many disturbances are prompted by grievances over illegal land seizures or the malfeasance of abusive officials.

Last week, a skirmish involving thousands of people flared up in the southern city of Shenzhen following the death of a motorcyclist who crashed after being hit by a walkie-talkie. Witnesses said the walkie-talkie was tossed by an official stationed at a police checkpoint.

In recent weeks, there have been a number of high-profile taxi strikes across the country, some of which turned ugly. The protests, in Chongqing, Sanya and a small city in Gansu province, were prompted by low fares, rising costs and what many drivers contend is the collusion of corrupt officials and greedy fleet owners. The drivers, some of whom smashed cabs of colleagues who refused to join the strike, relented after government officials acceded to some of their demands.

In Longnan, residents said the disturbances were provoked by economic distress, unchecked corruption and a lack of transparency by the local Communist Party.

Officials have said the decision to abandon Longnan was based on the city's location in a seismically unstable area. The earthquake that devastated parts of Sichuan last May, they point out, claimed more than 300 lives in Gansu, which borders Sichuan to the north.

Some residents have questioned the rationale behind the move, saying that if the area is so dangerous, Longnan's 2.6 million people should be moved as well. According to the local residents, some of the first people to protest on Monday were farmers awaiting compensation for land seized for municipal construction projects. Now that the government is leaving, the farmers said they feared they will never see the money.

As of last night, witnesses said smoke was still rising from the city center.

Armed police from the provincial capital were using tear gas to subdue the rioters, some of whom were tossing bricks and burning cars.

"People are furious, and now many farmers from surrounding villages and townships came to support them," a man who described himself as a retired government worker said in a telephone interview. "Though I used to work in the government, I'm for those people now."