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BEIJING: Police have arrested 28 people for instigating thousands of people to riot over China's family planning policies, although local officials may have stirred up tensions, state press said on Wednesday.
Seven towns in Guangxi province erupted in violence amid anger over fines and other punishments imposed for having too many children, Xinhua news agency said in the first official account of the unrest that began last Friday.
As many as 3,000 people protested in some of the villages in the southern Chinese province, Xinhua said, adding that government offices had been destroyed and cars and motorcycles burnt.
Residents contacted by AFP said tens of thousands of people were involved in the rioting, the worst of which took place on Friday and Saturday, while Hong Kong press reports have put the figure at 50,000.
"There may be problems with the family planning work of the government, which have prompted complaints from residents," Xinhua quoted Huang Shaoming, head of Bobai county where some of the rioting took place, as saying.
"Some people presently do not understand and are not satisfied with the population control work that we are undertaking."
Police detained 28 people suspected of instigating the attacks, Xinhua said, citing the local government, while there was no indication of any officials being reprimanded.
Xinhua said that a team of 4,200 officials had been sent to 28 towns to meet residents and "deal with their complaints", as reports distributed by Chinese and international activists said tensions remained high.
The demonstrations occurred after local governments dispatched "family planning work teams" to levy fines on families that were violating China's "one child" population control policies, residents told AFP this week.
Besides levying fines between 6,000 (780 dollars) and 60,000 yuan, the work teams also confiscated personal belongings such as livestock and electronic equipment from families who could not pay.
Photos initially posted on the Internet also showed government work teams dressed in military fatigues and wielding sledgehammers, smashing the homes of those who could not pay.
- AFP/so
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