As a result of the impact of Typhoon “Bavi”, several areas in Hebei Province have been hit by continued heavy rain, leading to severe flooding disasters. In order to protect Beijing, the authorities designated Huangzhuang Town in Sanhe City, Langfang, as a flood discharge area, sparking dissatisfaction among the villagers. On July 12, villagers from villages like Hougezhuang gathered near the embankment to block construction activities, resulting in clashes with government personnel on the scene.
According to the self-media outlet “Yesterday”, a video was released on July 13 showing villagers from Hougezhuang and other villages in Huangzhuang Town, Sanhe City, Langfang, gathered near the embankment on the night of July 12, protesting against the authorities using excavators to dig open the river channel and divert the floodwaters into their homes.
The video shows an excavator preparing for construction at the site, with a large number of villagers gathered around. One villager shouted, “Men of all ages from Hougezhuang, lift the vehicle (excavator)”, and following that, the villagers responded.
According to the reports, villagers later clashed with government personnel. In the video, a man can be seen lying on the ground, it is unclear if he was injured, and police also arrived at the scene.
Currently, the authorities have not made a public response to this issue.
According to previous reports in mainland media, in the past few years, villages in Bazhou and Zhuozhou in Hebei Province have been repeatedly designated as flood storage areas to “defend Beijing”. During the heavy rainfall in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region in August 2023, to ensure Beijing’s safety, Hebei activated 7 flood storage areas for diversion, resulting in extensive flooding in places like Zhuozhou and Bazhou, leaving tens of thousands of villagers homeless.
However, when CCTV News reported on the disaster in Bazhou, it claimed that the flooding in some villages in Bazhou Town was due to “the impact of rainfall”, without mentioning the fact that the East Dian Flood Storage Area was ordered to discharge floodwaters, leading to extreme dissatisfaction among the disaster-affected residents.
The victims are concerned that if the disaster is classified as “caused by rainfall” rather than “official discharge of floodwaters”, they will not receive compensation. Therefore, on August 4 of the same year, they gathered in front of the Bazhou City Hall, holding up banners saying “Give back our homeland, it was clearly caused by flood discharge, yet they claim it was due to rainfall” to protest. There were physical confrontations with riot police holding shields during the protest.
Under immense pressure from the public, the Bazhou City Government urgently issued a public letter on August 5, acknowledging that the disaster was caused by the discharge of floodwaters from the flood storage area and promising compensation. Subsequently, official media also removed the controversial reports that sparked the dispute.