SHOTLIST 1. Tilt-down from Chinese Ministry of Construction building to protesters outside 2. Protesters wearing white headscarf and chanting UPSOUND (Mandarin) Protesters chanting: "We want to see the bureau head." 3. Wide of protesters outside ministry 4. Various of protesters in front of security guards outside ministry 5. Set-up of protester, Wang Xueyi, talking to reporter 6. SOUNDBITE (Mandarin) Wang Xueyi, Tianjin Protester: "We regular citizens can't go on anymore. What can we do? We have no house, our homes have been demolished and we can't even petition." 7. Cutaway of close-up of protester's hands 8. SOUNDBITE (Mandarin) Wang Xueyi, Tianjin Protester: "The compensation is not fair so people can't afford to buy a new house with the money. The people are furious that they have no home and want to protest till the death. Some slit their wrists, commit suicide, jump off a building, these cases are very common. But once these things happen, the police seal off the bodies and negotiate with the family to compensate them, essentially 'gagging' them so that they won't tell the world." 9. Various of protesters outside ministry 10. Pan from security guard on walkie-talkie to protesters leaving UPSOUND (Mandarin) One of the protesters: "Let's go, hurry, let's leave." STORYLINE Protesters staged a rare public demonstration in China's capital on Thursday over what they said were illegal property seizures and compensation packages that fell far short of what was needed to buy new homes. Wearing white headbands emblazoned with the slogan "It's illegal to forcefully demolish one's house", the protesters from the city of Tianjin staged their rally outside the Ministry of Construction. The demonstrators said government land seizures had left them with no hope of buying new homes in their booming port city, 120 kilometres (75 miles) east of Beijing. They claimed that in one case, the government sold the valuable land in the centre of the city to developers who later entered it in a Hong Kong auction to attract investors. Spokesmen for the ministry did not immediately respond to faxed questions on the protesters' claims. While protests over property seizures and other nonpolitical issues have popped up occasionally in Beijing, the one on Thursday was unusually large and well-organised. Police and security guards attempted to prevent journalists filming the demonstration and tried to rip the headbands from the protesters' heads. One of the protesters later told AP Television that the protesters had reached the end of their tether. "We regular citizens can't go on anymore. What can we do? We have no house, our homes have been demolished and we can't even petition," Wang Xueyi said. The 57-year-old claimed she had received 104-thousand yuan (14,250 US dollars) in compensation for her ancestral home in Liangyouli, in the central Hexi district of Tianjin, in 2004. She showed documents which said officials sold the land to a local developer. Calls to the company named were not answered on Thursday. Wang said her husband died from stress shortly after the loss of their two-bedroom house and that she now lived with relatives. She went on to say she was detained for more than 40 days last summer when she came to Beijing to petition the government. "The people are furious that they have no home and want to protest till the death. Some slit their wrists, commit suicide, jump off a building, these cases are very common," Wang added. She suggested that these suicides were often covered up by officials. "The police seal off the bodies and negotiate with the family to compensate them, essentially 'gagging' them so that they won't tell the world," she claimed. The demonstrators planned to resume their protest on Friday. You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/youtube/04fdbc75a912b98fbc3195279efb45f1 Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork

• published: 21 Jul 2015
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