On October 9, a land conflict broke out in Dadong Village, Dadong Town, Bobai County, Yulin City, Guangxi, China. A local female villager told Epoch Times that unidentified individuals used fire extinguishers and pepper spray against elderly people and women trying to stop the land occupation construction. Some people were injured and sent to the hospital. As of October 11, construction on the disputed land is still ongoing.
The social media account “Yesterday,” which records mass protests in mainland China, recently posted a video on X platform saying that a local developer in Bobai, Guangxi, forcibly occupied the land for a real estate project and hired unidentified individuals to spray pepper spray and dry powder extinguishers at protesting villagers.
A local female villager interviewed by Epoch Times on October 11 stated that the villagers were unwilling to give up the land and had not signed any agreements. However, the other party started construction despite this, prompting villagers to rush to the scene to stop it.
According to her, there were over a dozen villagers trying to stop the construction, while the other party had around twenty to thirty individuals. She mentioned that many young people in the village were not home, so the elderly and women were the main ones trying to stop the construction.
She said, “The unidentified individuals directly sprayed the fire extinguisher at the people to drive them away. After using up the fire extinguisher, they switched to pepper spray, and some aunties had to be taken to the hospital.”
She stated that she was not present at the scene but saw videos circulated within the village. She mentioned that about four to five individuals were taken to the hospital.
In the video footage, several men were seen holding red fire extinguishers. One man in a greenish-gray top and shorts aimed the nozzle at the opposing crowd, continuously releasing white powder. The powder quickly dispersed, obscuring some people and vehicles, and a woman wearing a hat and holding a long-handled farming tool moved away to avoid it.
In another scene, a man in black clothing extended a small canister-like object toward a woman wearing a straw hat’s arm, who then backed away.
The female villager stated that the dispute on October 11 was still ongoing, with the other party bringing in excavators to dig and clear the disputed land, while the villagers stood in the way to block it.
She described the operation of the machine near the crowd, “He doesn’t touch the people, but he wants to start the work.”
In a video segment she provided, a woman in an orange top and a pink helmet stood in front of the excavator. The excavator moved near her, the bucket approaching the ground, causing dust to fly around. The woman then lifted her leg to move sideways and avoid the machine.
Another video showed a large area of exposed red soil with scattered plants and foliage, with excavators, concrete mixer trucks, and construction steel frames visible nearby.
The interviewed villager also mentioned that on that day, the other party summoned around twenty to thirty young men, some of whom were wearing masks. The one gathering these individuals was a man surnamed Pang from another village in the same town. She described this person as a “village bully” who had money and influence, and he paid to gather people from outside the village, but she was unsure of his specific name.
The interviewed female villager stated that after the villagers called the police, law enforcement arrived at the scene but mainly intervened to prevent physical altercations without stopping the construction.
She expressed dissatisfaction with the police’s handling, saying, “When the police arrived, they just came to watch, trying to prevent them from fighting, but they couldn’t stop the construction.”
In another video segment she provided, at least three personnel in police uniforms appeared on the scene, with several men nearby. However, these clips did not fully document the police’s actions after arriving at the scene.
According to a statement from a villager quoted by “Yesterday,” after the police arrived, they did not take any coercive measures against the individuals who sprayed the villagers.
She also mentioned that the other party had once carried a villager away and “thrown him on the road.”
She stated that the other party were local “thugs,” and the police tended to turn a blind eye to them, “The local police really cannot control them.” She said the villagers hoped to report the situation to Nanning or Beijing but found it challenging to further appeal.
She also mentioned that local government officials had appeared on-site at night, yet the construction continued the next day. Based on this, she suspected that there was some kind of “collusion” between the construction organizers and the local government, although she admitted that this was speculation.
As per her knowledge, the village chief and the villagers were united in their stance and did not agree to the land occupation.
Public information indicated that similar conflicts occurred in the area in January 2019, involving the same piece of land. After a few years of halted construction, work had resumed.
The interviewed female villager stated that many villagers in the village were affected by this piece of land. They were unwilling to give up the land and had not agreed to any terms. Previous discussions on compensation failed to reach a consensus.
According to her, the compensation offered by the other party was around 20,000 to 30,000 yuan per mu (a unit of area). The villagers found this price too low and wanted to keep the land for farming.
She questioned, “Is it not good to keep farming by ourselves?” Regarding the other party’s preemptive occupation of the land, she remarked, “Once they occupy the land first, whether it can be sold or not, we have no say.”
She mentioned that the disputed land was close to the town, of a considerable size, and she was uncertain about the specific area, which seemed to be designated for a development zone.
As per her knowledge, around ten years ago, there was a dispute over this land between the parties. Some parts had one or two-story buildings, but the projects were left incomplete. Subsequently, local authorities carried out road construction, and now the construction team had returned.
She added that nearby houses had been demolished in the past, and the construction team had been known to work at night.