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Anti-demolition residents of historic Beijing village supported by grandson of former top official

蘋果日報 2020/12/15 05:15


A campaign by residents to save their historic Beijing homes from demolition received support from the grandson of a senior politician on Monday, while one
resident began a hunger strike to protest the forced evictions.
Thousands of people living in 500-year-old Xiangtang Village have been fiercely resisting demolition teams and police since last Thursday, accusing authorities of making an illegal land grab.
They received support on Monday from Zhang Liang, a grandson of former State Council vice premier Tao Zhu, who posted an article on social media criticizing local government authorities as “inhumane.”
“How can one live in peace under such governance?” Zhang said.
Also on Monday, local resident Yang Yusheng said he would immediately begin a hunger strike to protest the forced eviction.
Yang, a law professor at the China University of Political Science and Law, said his house had been cut off from water and electricity supplies since Sunday afternoon, and accused local authorities of using “shameless hooliganism” to pursue their goal.
Xiangtang Village, in Beijing’s Changping district, is the target of a land-resumption order that would demolish thousands of villas and courtyard properties.
A local court ordered 600 households to move out of their homes by last Wednesday, but residents have been resisting efforts by police, construction workers and officials to remove them.
Some sources said about seven housing buildings have been bulldozed. However, some residents say that more than 30 houses in the village have been demolished since last Thursday against their owners’ wishes.
Zhang revealed in the article that his family’s ancestral home in Xiangtang was being used to store manuscript, books and stationery used by his grandfather, Tao, and his grandmother Zeng Zhi.
One resident accused authorities of damaging a load-bearing column in his house, leaving cracks that were up to half a meter (over 19 inches) long.
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