Villagers struggling in battle over forced demolition

• Source: Global Times
• [09:02 December 08 2010]
• Comments

A villager from Tangjialing who filed a complaint against her village committee for implementing its forced demolition plan was turned down by a local court, Beijing Times reported Tuesday.

According to the Xibeiwang township government, the plan is legal and villagers can submit their appeal to the courts if there is any dispute.

However, houses can still be legally torn down if villagers are not satisfied with compensation and the township government fails mediation, according to the demolition and reconstruction plan of Tangjialing village, released by the villagers committee on May 8.

Zhang Yu (pseudonym), a villager at Tangjialing, filed a lawsuit against the committee on December 2, saying the committee does not have the right to forcibly demolish residents' homes, and the plan is illegal since the committee did not hold a village meeting prior to approving it.

Some villagers had received demolition notices issued on December 1, which gave residents until midnight of December 2 to vacate, the report said.

Zhang's demolition notice reads that her houses are to be demolished in two days. The village committee's official deadline for the plan is December 30, but currently there are still more than 50 households remaining, mostly due to complaints over compensation.

"Some went to the committee and got a few more days, but some weren't so lucky," said Zhang.

Villagers are keeping watch over their houses every day for fear they will be suddenly demolished, and some even had armed themselves with Molotov cocktails, the report said.

An anonymous villager told the Beijing Times that the village representatives involved in the plan are not elected.

The Haidian court did not issue a written declaration as to why they turned down the case.

Qu Fu, media spokesman of the Tangjialing village said, "the demolition plan was approved by villagers and anyone unsatisfied can go to the township government and check."

"The demolition plan has submitted all required materials and there is nothing against the law," according to Wang Yuhua, media spokeswoman for Xibeiwang government.

The plan is running smoothly, and meeting its end of December deadline will not be a problem, she added.

Global Times