Recently, a violent forced demolition incident occurred in Sanyuanli Village, Baiyun District, Guangzhou City, Guangdong Province, where a group of unidentified men in black forcibly entered the homes of several residents in the Qunying Community, leading to dissatisfaction among the villagers.
On April 2, the Baiyun District Government of Guangzhou City issued a “Decision on the Compensation for the Expropriation of Residential Houses on State-owned Land,” stating that starting from April 2025, the old village site of the urban village transformation project in Sanyuanli Village, Baiyun District, Guangzhou City will be expropriated, and public announcements will be made within the expropriated houses. The deadline for signing the compensation agreement was set to expire on December 12, 2025.
However, due to the expropriated persons not signing the compensation agreements within the specified deadline, the Baiyun District Government ordered the expropriated persons to vacate the expropriated houses within 30 days from the date of delivery of the decision, and hand over the houses to the implementation unit, assisting in the procedures for property rights cancellation and property rights exchange for the replacement houses (resettlement houses). Those who still do not move out after the notice will face compulsory enforcement through the court.
The decision document indicated that the owner of the expropriated house is Zhang Xia, located at Room 701, No. 15 Qunying Street, Sanyuanli, Baiyun District, Guangzhou. Prior to this, the authorities had conducted evaluations on the average unit price of the resettlement housing in internal village plots in Sanyuanli, Baiyun District (Blocks 1-6), and the unit price of building the resettlement housing.
On April 8, a group chat record circulated online showed that the male head of household of Room 701, No. 15 Qunying Street, Sanyuanli Village, was taken away by a group of black-clothed individuals who forcibly entered his home while he was sending his child to school in the morning, leaving the female head of household alone at home.
According to a video posted by netizen “YiFeng SU” on an overseas social platform, the Sanyuanli Village government hired about ten thugs wearing black clothes on April 7 at 7:19, holding riot shields with the word “Police” printed on them, to forcefully enter Room 701.
In the video, after the men in black entered the house, the female homeowner took out pepper spray to resist, but was quickly subdued and taken away. Subsequently, several black-clothed individuals searched the house under the command of a man, seemingly looking for something.
As reported by Hong Kong’s “Ming Pao News,” on the same day, another household in the same building (Room 403) was also forcibly invaded, with a family of four taken away and detained in a container house at Sanyuanli Middle School.
Following the incidents, villagers reported to the police. Videos taken by villagers at the scene showed a large group of shield-bearing men forming a human chain at the entrance of Qunying Community, preventing villagers from returning home. Villagers questioned the legality of these “workers,” demanding to see construction permits, but they failed to produce any valid documents, and the police present at the scene took no action.
It is reported that since the demolition started in August last year, there have been several disputes in Sanyuanli. In early March, some villagers were temporarily trapped by rubble due to inadequate construction barricades; at the end of March, villagers accused construction workers of cutting power lines and using machinery to demolish the buildings in the village at night.