Fun times in China

Something that doesn't seem to be getting much traction with the MSM is the current unrest in The Peoples Republic (communist) of China: From Science Daily:

Police kill eight in China village protest
Police reportedly shot dead eight villagers in China's southern Guangdong province as they were protesting over a land requisition deal.

Police and government officials refused to confirm the Tuesday incident in Dongzhou village, but a villager told the South China Morning Post that eight people, including his brother, were killed when police opened fire on protesters. He said others were wounded and taken to the hospital.

"It's not a simple case, because in such a harmonious society, our armed police won't presume to open fire on villagers," said a spokesman for the Shanwei city government that administers the village.

Shanwei Public Security Bureau officials said they were "not clear" about the incident.

Reuters does its usual excellent job:

Police seal off south China village after clashes
Armed police have sealed off a village in southern China after violent clashes with residents protesting against lack of compensation for land lost to a wind power plant, villagers said on Friday.

Residents said riot police had opened fire on Tuesday on protesters in the village of Dongzhou in Guangdong province after they moved in to quell the unrest. Estimates from residents and rights groups put the number of dead between two and 20.

"Now the authorities are coming to the village to detain people," said one villager, adding his brother was among those shot dead during the demonstrations.

"My parents and my sister-in-law are kneeling in front of the house to ask the government officials to explain the killing," he said in a telephone interview.

Emphasis mine -- excuse me: wind power plant??? Bzzzzzttt! Wrong. Try Coal -- lots and lots of Coal. From The Guardian

Chinese militia open fire on demonstrators opposing coal plant In one of the most violent confrontations in a wave of recent rural unrest, Chinese paramilitary forces have shot and killed at least one man and injured more than a dozen others during protests against a power plant in Guangdong, local residents said yesterday.

Police reportedly used tear gas on a crowd of several thousand demonstrators, some of whom were said to have been throwing Molotov cocktails and pipe bombs. The death toll from the riot, in Dongzhou village on Tuesday evening, could rise. Local authorities refused to provide details of casualties but reports in the Hong Kong and overseas media suggest up to 15 people may have been killed.

A witness, who only gave her surname, Huang, told the Guardian that a former schoolmate, Lin Yutui, was among the dead. "We didn't expect the police would hurt us so when they fired warning shots in the air, nobody dispersed. Even when they used tear gas, people wouldn't withdraw. So then they used real bullets. I saw people get shot."

After her father was hit in the face by a tear-gas canister, Huang took him to a clinic where she described scenes of grief and chaos. She said the head of the clinic was imploring the biggest nearby hospital, in Shanwei, to send help. A member of staff at the Shanwei municipal hospital confirmed that wounded people had been brought in on Tuesday.

Several Hong Kong media groups said the deaths and wounds were caused by tear-gas canisters being fired at close range. But Mr Lin's family was quoted as telling the South China Morning Post that he had been killed instantly by two bullets, one to the heart and one to the pelvis.

And some more with a bit of backstory:

The level of the violence this week had been unusual, but protests are becoming common. According to central government, 3.6 million people took part in 74,000 "mass incidents" last year, an increase of more than 20% on 2003. As in Dongzhou, most of these demonstrations were about property and pollution.

Dongzhou's villagers oppose the construction of a coal-fired power plant partly on land reclaimed from the nearby Baisha saltwater lake. Although construction of the 6.2bn yuan (�440m) development began in 2003, residents say they have not been compensated for lost income and land or the likely deterioration in the air and water quality. For the past two months, they have blocked the road into the construction site.

Tuesday's violent escalation was sparked by the arrest of the campaign's leaders. According to the AFP news agency, hundreds of officers from the People's Armed Police, a unit of the People's Liberation Army, attended the scene. The developer denied any involvement.

Molotov cocktails are a bit of overkill but the irony is wonderful... Wikipedia has a great article on Molotov cocktails:

A Palestinian throws a Molotov cocktail at
Israeli soldiers in the town of
Nablus in the West Bank

Molotov cocktail (petrol bomb) is the generic name for a variety of crude incendiary weapons. Commonly associated with irregular military forces and rioters, they are more frequently used for basic arson.

And Vyacheslav Mikhailovich Molotov? That a Communist Tool would be used against the last real bastions of Communism is wonderful. Power to these people!