Text of report by Hong Kong Information Centre for Human Rights and Democracy on 15 February

[Report by Hong Kong Information Centre for Human Rights and Democracy: "Thousands of Migrant Workers Clashed With Several Hundred Policemen in A Massive Riot in Zhejiang; Six Police Vehicles Were Smashed and Over 100 Were Injured."]

15 Feb -Our centre has learned that a massive riot broke out in Tongxiang City, Zhejiang Province, over a traffic accident, resulting in bloody conflicts between public security officers and several thousand migrant workers who came from other parts of the country. The locality urgently mustered 1,000 armed policemen last night [ 14 February] to quell the incident, in which six police vehicles were smashed and 100 migrant workers were injured. At the moment, the Tongxiang City Public Security Bureau has arrested 20 migrant workers and verified the incident to inquirers.

Our centre has learned: At around five yesterday afternoon, a Tongxiang local male motorcyclist hit and wounded a migrant worker whose native place is Henan. The migrant worker accused the traffic police officer of being partial to the local motorcyclist; some migrant workers began to confront policemen on the site and the two sides started to fight. Around 500 public security officers later rushed to reinforce the site, but migrant workers also called together their fellow townsmen for assistance. At eight p.m. in the evening, around 5,000 migrant workers were clashing with public security officers at the site. Public security officers had batons, but some workers also held cudgels. According to witnesses at the site, workers smashed six police vehicles and several thousand workers chased several hundred policemen from the original site - the Little Bee of Dong Xing Gate - to the entrance of Zhong Hua Road at 500 meters away. The authorities urgently mustered 1,000 armed policemen to the site to expel and arrest migrant workers. Over 100 workers were injured and 20 have been arrested in the incident, while some are still being pursued by public security officers today.

Relations between migrant workers and local public security authorities have always been tense in Zhejiang Province and there have been frequent minor frictions and conflicts. There are currently over 150 million migrant workers in China. Living in various cities, migrant workers keep increasingly close contacts with other workers from the same native place to safeguard their own interests, such as migrant workers from Sichuan, Henan, and Chongqing. Migrant workers would swiftly call together their townspeople for help when bullied by local police.

This year will be a year of turmoil in China. Massive turbulences like the one in Tongxiang City will take place in other cities. As migrant workers' wages are forced down and job-hunting becomes even more difficult this year amid the economic downturn, workers will vent off their grievances whenever there are incidents. The social grievances accumulated since 1989 have not been released; therefore, the possibility of major turbulences this year is much higher.

Source: Information Centre for Human Rights and Democracy, Hong Kong, in Chinese 15 Feb 09