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Protests over land grabs and voting rights have sprung up at a village in China's Henan Province. Villagers are saying that if they don't get benefits returned to them, their protests could be bigger than the Wukan protests last year.
"Return our land, return our voting rights, establish an autonomous village federation!"
Shouts from more than 100 people in Maoxue Village in China's Henan Province, as they marched to local government offices on January 27th. They were protesting land grabs by local officials and calling for voting rights.
[Maoxue Villager]:
"That land is ours. We had a contract earlier but it expired. Once the contract ended it should have been returned to us, but we didn't get the land back. When we reacted, no one helped us, everyone from the county to the village is the same, and they don't deal with it."
This man is referring to 12 acres of land that should have been returned to villagers. They say local officials manipulated the village for too long. One man, Gao Qilin, served as the local Party Secretary for 20 years, and has now handed over the position to his son.
[Maoxue Villager]:
"We have started to feel that we will never again keep our mouths shut, so we have started to speak. You know, the life of peasants is very bitter. You cannot find anyone who will listen to you anywhere. We want an election, or at least, we want the right to speak. We already have that right don't we?"
In a move reminiscent of the Wukan protests at the end of last year, the villagers in Gushi County have set up several village councils.
[...]
Wukan was the only village to have temporarily freed itself of Chinese Communist Party control since 1949. After villagers kicked out all Communist officials and police they kept authorities out for two weeks, until their demands were met.
Ben Hedges