Chinese protest home demolition after kidnapping

BEIJING, Dec 1 (Reuters) - Chinese police detained 24 people after
kidnappings led to a protest against forced demolition of homes in
southwestern Guizhou Province, local media reported on Tuesday.

Protests over land confiscation have bedeviled China's economic boom, as
farmland, private homes and historic neighborhoods have been gobbled up by
expensive real estate developments and factories.

The issue is one of the biggest reasons for public dissatisfaction with
local officials, often linked to businessmen and property developers.

In Guiyang, the provincial capital, 13 residents were kidnapped before
dawn last Friday by thugs employeed by a local real estate developer, who
then demolished their homes, the Beijing News said.

Dozens of men wielding steel pipes and crowbars broke into eight homes,
taped the mouths of sleeping residents, dragged them into vans and drove
them to the outskirts of the city.

The residents and their families later blocked roads with propane
canisters. Police detained four protesters for disturbing traffic and
arrested 20 people on charges of intentional damage to property.

"The illegal obstruction of roads seriously affected the public life and
productive activities, and caused big economic loss," the paper quoted the
police as saying.

Residents often get very low compensation for their condemned land and
homes, but fortunes can be made when the areas are redeveloped.

Last month, a Shanghai woman threw petrol bombs at government forklifts
working on an expansion of the Hongqiao airport, while in the western city
of Chengdu a woman set fire to herself in front of police and
firefighters.

Neither woman could prevent her house from being destroyed.