South China Morning Post - China
Friday, January 21, 2000
Farmers slip net at fund protest
Dozens of angry farmers, who lost money when their eel exports to
Japan plummeted, charged a government office yesterday in a dramatic
illustration of tensions caused by the mainland's moves into the
global economy.
The short but hot-tempered protest in Fuzhou, capital of Fujian
province, was one of many in recent months that have involved often
poorly managed investment funds set up without government permission
in the vast countryside.
The farmers from Fuqing, about 40km south of Fuzhou, had pooled money
in a fund they set up themselves to invest mainly in eel farming, a
popular business along the eastern seaboard, said a Fujian government
official who deals with public grievances.
Initially, the venture made money but exports to Japan fell in the
last two years and the fund collapsed in 1999, the official said.
A Hong Kong-based human rights group said 200 farmers pushed through
50 security guards outside the gate to the provincial government
office in Fuzhou and made their way to the front of the building.
More than 200 police reinforcements arrived, detained the farmers,
loaded them on to trucks and drove to an unknown location, the
Information Centre of Human Rights and Democratic Movement in China
reported. It quoted witnesses who said five farmers were injured and
taken away by ambulance.
The official denied the account. He said 30 to 40 farmers showed up to
protest and about 20 got past security and sat quietly in a courtyard
until police arrived.
Two people who fought with police were detained, but officials later
released them because they "decided that their high spirits were
understandable", the official said.
There were no arrests or injuries and officials met representatives of
the protesters for an hour before loading all the farmers into two
trucks and returning them to Fuqing, the official said.
The official said he did not know why the farmers' exports fell.
Japan, however, has been struggling to pull out of its deepest
economic downturn since the end of World War II.
The official suggested the farmers should have kept themselves better
informed about the market.
"They have to accept the main responsibility for the fund's collapse,"
he said.
The Government, worried about unrest, has been trying to close down
unauthorised investment funds.
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