“They called it a remodelling project, to turn our village into a town,”
he said.
“They wanted to tear down the whole street, and promised we would get a
new house of the same size in two years, as well as rent to cover the
interim.
But I heard of people in a neighbouring village getting a much better deal, so
we refused to sign.”
At first, the property company stuck up posters warning of dire consequences
for any families who held out. Then, Mr Shen said, when 70 of the 100
households had left, the threats escalated.
“This mob of thugs would block the street most days. They would pick on
the women, threatening to kill their kids. Then people started tossing
bricks through windows and letting off fireworks at night. Some people got
beaten on the street.”
On October 29, as Mr Shen went to work and his wife popped out for a packet of
instant noodles, a mob of “30 to 50 men” materialised at their
front door.
“My wife tried to close the door, but they pushed it back and she tripped
over. That is how the fight started,” said Mr Shen.
With a flurry of kicks and punches, he and his 18-year-old son, a fellow kung
fu devotee, set about the attackers, rendering seven of them near
unconscious in the hallway.
“It was self defence. I really cannot remember what kung fu skills I used.
It was quite messy. Only seven people were injured because the rest were
scared and stayed outside. Some of them ran away,” he said.
When the police arrived, however, they were little help, insisting that since
the thugs were unarmed, it was Mr Shen and his family who were in the wrong.
They urged the family to sign the contract.
Instead, the Shens posted their homemade video online, where it has gone viral
as a rare David versus Goliath moment in the bleak fight against China’s
avaricious property barons.
They then fled, on the evening of November 21, to Beijing. Upon arriving in
the capital, however, Mr Shen’s son was arrested by the police, who said
they would charge him with assault.
“I do not regret the fight, but I am worried about my son,” said Mr
Shen.
“I think they are trying to fit up him up with some crime. I am concerned
that my actions will end up hurting him,” he said, acknowledging that
officials may try to emotionally blackmail him into signing over his lease.
As the Telegraph interviewed Mr Shen, however, his phone rang. It was, he
said, a man named Zhou Jin, who claimed to be a member of the Central
Military Commission, which oversees the People’s Liberation Army.
“He said he had seen my plight and was outraged. He said I should not
give any interviews to the media and he would come and collect me in his car
this afternoon,” said Mr Shen.
An attempt to contact Mr Zhou on the number he provided failed, but perhaps Mr
Shen’s bravura has won him a powerful ally.
Additional reporting by Valentina Luo
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November 29th, 2012
FAKE NEWS for the Zionist agenda 
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