Villagers and officials clash over road dispute in Jiangsu province

About a dozen women, most older than 80, camped in a tent next to a disputed village road in Jiangsu province for two days last week to protest "forced land acquisition".

The women, from Sanyou village, Dongkan town, in Binhai county, said a local company was attempting to acquire a stretch of road, which leads to the nearest market, China News Service reported.

Two elderly women camp next to a stretch of road used by villagers to travel to the local market. A local company is reportedly attempting to acquire the road.

The report said the company had reached an agreement with the local government and villagers to take over 1.8 hectares of land in Sanyou village to set up its workshops.

The company's factory and land on which the workshops will be built are separated by a road, which the company was attempting to acquire, the report said.

It added that a new road was built some distance away but villagers using this route took far longer to reach the market to buy daily provisions.

To prevent the company from acquiring the road, a group of women, some of them severely sick, set up a tent alongside the road and began camping last Thursday.

The People's Daily website reported that villagers clashed with "300 local officials and police, who went to the site to remove the women on Friday.

The local government resolved the dispute with the villagers on Saturday and all the women returned home.

A Dongkan government official said the problem had been settled. He did not say if the company had given up its attempt to acquire the road.