A number of villagers in southern China have been injured after police used batons to break up a protest over a land dispute, according to reports.
Protesters had blocked a highway in Sanjiao village, Guangdong province, to complain they were not paid enough for land bought to build a road.
"Many people were injured," a man told the Associated Press news agency - but a government official has denied this.
Rural China has seen a recent rise in protests over land acquisitions.
Rampant development in Guangdong has led to several conflicts between villagers and local officials and developers, reports the BBC's Louisa Lim from Beijing.
With recent figures showing there were 74,000 protests in 2004, China's leaders are very worried about rising social unrest, says our correspondent.
At least three people were killed after police opened fire on protesters in the Guangdong village of Dongzhou in December, drawing criticism from Chinese intellectuals.
Injuries
The Sanjiao protests were fuelled by anger that villagers had not received enough compensation for land taken to build a road leading to a highway.
A man quoted by AFP news agency reportedly said villagers were also angry over the sale of local land to a Hong Kong-based developer.
A local goverment official told the BBC the police was sent on Saturday to quell a four-day-old protest.
He denied anyone had been injured.
According to a man interviewed by AFP news agency, the villagers started Saturday's protest in the evening in order to avoid being filmed by police cameras, which had recorded their attempts to stage demonstrations earlier in the week.
Hospitals reported receiving injured protesters on Saturday, the agency reports.
"Between 30 to 50 people were injured as police were attacking anyone they saw," a man who gave his name as Tan told the AFP agency.
A local government official contacted by the Associated Press news agency said the protests had ended on Saturday night.
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