Forced Evictions in Shandong Province, Weifang City

The video starts with a reference to China’s property law that was passed in 2007 to protect the rights of – among others – home owners. But in Shandong, Weifang City, Kuiwen District (潍坊市奎文区), the video says, many people lost their homes while being beaten and cursed: the head of the village, reportedly a man named Gao Zhigang (高志刚), wanted to demolish a number of homes, but hadn’t come to agreement with many owners, and with some help from gangs, he seems to be making steady progress now. The video shows the maltreatment of a rural family on May 28. The video includes violence.

According to the BBC’s China correspondent’s blog, they went there and verified some of the information given by the video. Obviously, they didn’t find wide-open doors in the neighbourhood when doing their research. Still, they got some characteristic information: “Of course, we’re scared.”