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Fatal Yunnan dispute between farmers, rubber plant settled

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2008-07-24 00:21

PU'ER - A dispute at a rubber plant that left two dead and dozens injured last weekend in southwest China's Yunnan Province has been settled, according to a local government spokesman on Wednesday.

The government of Pu'er City agreed to some reasonable requirements of the farmers and they had returned home after four days of negotiation, Ji Yongjin, publicity official of the city government, told a press conference here on Wednesday.

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"The injured have been hospitalized and the bodies of two of the farmers had also been cremated."

Ji said a dispute over the distribution of profits had triggered the unrest. The rubber plant and farmers disagreed on access to forested land and ownership of the rubber plantation. The conflict over profits had been exacerbated by rising rubber prices.

Unrest broke out on July 19 when a crowd tried to prevent police from taking away people who were described as suspects in illegal activities in the conflict.

Police were attacked by more than 500 people and used their baton guns. The shots killed two local people. Among the injured were 15 others and 41 police. Nine police cars were damaged.

Pu'er Mayor Shen Peiping said the representatives of the farmers and the victims' families had put forward eight requirements and four were reasonable. On behalf of the government, he had agreed to those. But three proposals were unpractical and another one still need further investigation before a decision could be made.

Shen said the government would work hard at adjusting the profit distribution between the farmers and the enterprise. A working team has been set up, composed of government officials, accountants, lawyers and representatives of the farmers, to reach a solution that both sides would accept.