Beijing: Hundreds of armed police were dispatched to central China to quell a demonstration by furious crowds demanding their money back from a fund-raising scheme, the local government said today.

The protest began Wednesday in Hunan province and gathered momentum yesterday, blocking traffic and delaying trains, but all had returned to normal by today, according to a witness and the government of Xiangxi prefecture.

"The railway station is open today, but yesterday it was blocked by people," a receptionist at the Tianlu Hotel next to the station in Jishou City, who could not be named for fear of reprisal, told AFP on today.

According to the Hong Kong-based Information Centre for Human Rights and Democracy, the crowd swelled to 10,000 people, but local authorities refused to comment when contacted by phone.

The centre said 5,000 soldiers and armed police had been dispatched to control the crowd, leading to 20 arrests with 50 people injured.

The protest is the latest in a series of confrontations over social issues in China, where tens of thousands of riots erupt each year, many of which emanate from grievances over abuse of power, corruption or land grabs.

In June, tens of thousands of people rioted in southwest Guizhou province over claims police had covered up an alleged rape and murder of a teenage girl.

The government said in a statement on its website it brought in armed police to disperse the crowd in Jishou, but failed to mention how many, adding no one was hurt and that car and rail traffic had returned to normal by today.

It said it had taken "coercive measures" on nine protesters, but it was unclear whether these people had been detained.
Source : PTI