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"the town and village levels cleaned up the river, but they selectively enforced the law. we posted a message to defend our rights and were still detained. this is obviously unfair!"

after the 10-day detention period expired, mr. xu from shandong and his two sons still did not stop their "rights protection". they believed that the village and town levels cut down the trees they planted in their own fields by the river, but turned a blind eye to the houses and crops in the parallel areas on both sides.

question: when the town and village carried out river cleaning, why did they only cut down my trees but ignored the houses on the adjacent plots of land?

mr. xu, 58 years old, lives in daguo village, sangcun town, shanting district, zaozhuang city, shandong province. he has two sons, both of whom run shops in the local town. recently, mr. xu told reporters what happened.

mr. xu said that the land involved is located by a small river in the south of daguo village, which is called nanhe river in local people's habit. in the early years, the village exchanged this land by the river to three or four villagers. "at that time, it seemed that two or three parts of the land were divided into responsibility fields, and the other small area was wasteland." mr. xu said that in recent years, they have planted trees on their own land, and even built houses on the adjacent land on their right side.

"last year they said they cut down all my trees for river management. those trees were almost as thick as my hands could be put together." mr. xu said, but he did not expect that the houses next door and the crops in other villagers' fields were not cleared.

"so i planted some more poplar trees this year." mr. xu said that on june 17, 2024, cadres at the town and village levels arrived at the scene and hired dozens of local villagers to cut down the saplings he had planted without notifying him.

screenshot of surveillance video from the day of the incident

"it was the villagers who called us and told us." mr. xu said that he quickly rushed to the scene and called the police, then went to the village committee to inquire about the matter. the reply he got was that it was the provincial government that was in charge of river management, but no documents were ever produced.

"our land is mainly basic farmland, so even if they want to manage the river, they should communicate with us in advance." mr. xu's youngest son, xiao xu, said that, taking a step back, even if they have a basis for law enforcement, they only looked at the saplings in the xu family's land, but ignored the building with a courtyard wall next to it. "if it is about affecting flood discharge, then the house may have a greater impact than our small saplings." xiao xu said, not only that, their land is above the river, and there are also a large number of trees growing in the real river, but the working group did not pay attention.

the trees planted in mr. xu's field have been cut down by the local government on the grounds that they affect flood flow, but the house built a few years ago in the adjacent plot has not been affected.

detained: the father and his two sons complained to no avail, shouted through loudspeakers and posted "rights protection" messages, and were deemed to have provoked trouble and were administratively detained

mr. xu said that after they had approached several town officials to report the matter and negotiated with them to no avail, they chose another way to protect their rights.

"we posted this story online, and it received a lot of hits at the time." xiao xu said that after the online report, village and town officials went to xu's home and personally took his father, mr. xu's elderly mobile phone to receive the verification code and remove the video. in order to let the villagers know about this, mr. xu admitted that they had used a loudspeaker to talk about this matter in the village.

then, things "deteriorated" again. "on the morning of july 3, the police came and arrested my father and brother." xiao xu said that he heard about it in advance and was afraid so he went out to hide. he was not found by the police that day. however, after he talked with a friend who knew the law, he took the initiative to rush to the police station the next day, and xiao xu was also detained that day.

the administrative penalty decision issued by the local police provided by xiao xu shows that it has been found that since june 18, 2024, xu and xu have repeatedly posted inappropriate speech videos on the internet and used loudspeakers to broadcast inappropriate speech in daguo village due to dissatisfaction with the river cleaning work in daguo village, sangcun town, shanting district. xu's illegal behavior of provoking trouble is established. according to article 26, item (4) of the "public security administration punishment law of the people's republic of china", it is decided to impose an administrative penalty of seven days of administrative detention on xu.

"i was detained for six days, and my father, brother and i were released on july 10." xiao xu said that the three of them believed that their rights protection was reasonable and legal, and the police's punishment was unfair to them.

response: the town government said that the trees were cut down to ensure the flow of water through the river, and did not question the parties involved about the selective enforcement of the law.

so, is the situation really as described by mr. xu and his son? huashang daily dafeng news reporter contacted the secretary of daguo village and the local police many times but failed. a staff member of the petition office of sangcun town government responded to the matter.

"cutting trees is for river management, and we are afraid that it will hinder flood flow." the staff member said that part of the land where the xu family planted trees was contracted by the xu family, and part of it was wasteland. according to the village registration, only eight centimeters of that land was the xu family's responsibility field, and the rest was reclaimed wasteland. however, the xu family's statement was inconsistent with this.

the staff member said that the xu family had also raised the issue of the house adjacent to the plot, "but this time the county-wide river management has dealt with many places that affect flood flow. they also said there are houses nearby, but we are petitioning and have not been to the site, so we did not ask for details."

when the reporter further asked whether the petition department should answer the case after understanding the situation, since the xu family questioned the selective enforcement of law by the town and village mainly because of the house issue, the staff member began to deny the xu family's feedback on the house issue. he said that the trees in the xu family's field were cut down by themselves last year after the town and village did some work, and saplings were planted again this year.

"there is no compensation for this." regarding the administrative detention of the xu family's father and son, the staff member said that he knew the situation. after the town and the village cut down the xu family's saplings, the xu family members walked back and forth in the village with loudspeakers shouting on the streets, and also posted nonsense on the internet, so they were detained by the public security bureau.

the reporter learned from the xu family that xiao xu has planned to hire a lawyer and is ready to protect his rights through legal means.

lawyer's statement: the river management working group may have illegal and unreasonable procedures

"river management should follow the principles of fairness and justice, and all obstacles that affect flood flow should be treated equally." fu jian, a well-known criminal defense lawyer and director of henan zejin law firm, believes that if what mr. xu said is true, the location of the trees is basic farmland and the trees are owned by citizens. when the township and town working groups cut down the trees according to the documents, they should inform mr. xu in advance in accordance with relevant regulations, and give reasonable explanations when mr. xu asks about specific documents, fulfill reasonable notification obligations, and compensate for legal property in accordance with the law; in addition, the river management only cut down mr. xu's trees, which is somewhat unreasonable. therefore, the working group may have procedural illegalities and unreasonableness.

fu jian also said that the villagers in question chose to defend their rights by shouting and posting online. although these methods can attract attention to a certain extent, from a legal perspective, if the published speech exceeds the scope of reasonable rights protection, it may constitute a violation of the law. at the same time, it is recommended that the parties defend their rights through legal channels, and they can consult lawyers or legal aid agencies to understand their own rights and rights and ways to defend their rights. when publishing speeches or taking actions, they should pay attention to complying with laws and regulations and avoid taking actions beyond the law.

as for whether mr. xu's family is suspected of provoking trouble, fu jian said that generally speaking, when faced with unreasonable and direct infringement of citizens' rights by administrative agencies or relevant staff, the counterparty has the right to make suggestions, report or reasonably use public opinion as a means of supervision to supervise the implementation of administrative actions. therefore, if what mr. xu's family said is true, there is no fabrication, exaggeration, deliberate smearing of relevant units, and it has not caused social disorder, it generally does not constitute provoking trouble. mr. xu's family can retain evidence, apply for administrative reconsideration or initiate administrative litigation for tree felling and administrative detention, or report to the higher-level competent department.

huashang daily news reporter he nan, editor dong lin