Chinese police and hired ?thugs? in the southeastern province of Fujian assaulted a group of peasants in a dispute over a factory, a human rights group said. Peasants staging a sit-in protest against government seizure of a village factory were attacked on August 1 by more than 100 police officers and 14 men recently released from labour reform camps, Human Rights in China (HRIC) said. At least 15 people were injured in the attack. ?Most of the villagers attacked were women, and conditions ... have deteriorated because they are too poor to afford the necessary medical teatment,? it said.

Villagers had pooled money to buy a 5 100-sq-m (54 900-sq-ft) factory but the local government took it over without offering any compensation, the group said. The August 1 attack was the most recent in a string of scare tactics by officials in the province, it added. ?On May 6, a total of more than 300 police officers and unidentified civilians surrounded Manli village and beat up villagers regardless of sex or age. One woman committed suicide ... to protest,? the HRIC report said. The villagers have sent an open letter to the provincial and central governments calling for investigations, it said.

?The Chinese government should carefully investigate the allegations ... and carry out whatever measures are necessary to address the acts of injustice?, HRIC president Liu Qing said. The letter was seen as a last resort effort to secure official recognition of the villagers? plight. Local officials declined to comment on the case. Recently, three people involved in protests in Fujian?s capital were given sentences ranging from five months to one year for ?disturbing the public order,? a government Web site said.

An online commentator condemned the punishments, calling on the government to learn from Hong Kong, Macau and Singapore. ?Only a government that loves its citizens and fairly enforces the law can win the trust of the people. They shouldn?t use these punishments to repress the people,? the commentator said. More than three million people staged about 58,000 protests across China last year protesting against corruption, forcible land seizure and unpaid wages. Authorities frown on public dissent and often arrest and jail leaders of such movements.