Man deploys 'cannons' to protect house from demolition  

河南荥阳现防拆闹剧:老汉制“大炮”摆房前屋后

看到自家周围几十家住户房屋被夷为平地，23日上午，河南荥阳市河南建材厂职工周建帮自制6门“大炮”摆放在自家房前屋后防拆迁。现场民警表示，周建帮自制的是假大炮，不构成违法。[查看全文]

Zhengzhou (ECNS) – An old man in Xingyang city, Central China's Henan province, deployed six homemade "cannons" around his house Monday to prevent it from demolition.

On-site civil police verified the cannons were dummies, and that homeowner Zhou Jianbang didn't violate any laws.

Zhou said his dummies, each costing several hundred yuan, wouldn't cause any damage.

Houses in his neighborhood had been torn down, which made him insecure and inspired him to make "cannons" to protect it, Zhou added.

Local official Zhao Peng said they didn't plan to raze Zhou's house, and they wouldn't do it before reaching an agreement with him.

Zhou's community was being relocated, and only 34 of 340 households can stay there. Residents said they did support the government's reconstruction of their community, but had disputes over the compensation and resettlement offered to them.

Some residents said the government just consulted verbally with them and did not sign a paper agreement. "Once verbal negotiation fails, the government will conduct demolition."

Feng Baosen, 85, said his house was razed without his knowledge two months ago, with furniture and his collection of pictures buried inside.

He had nothing against the removal, but the government just gave 4,000 yuan to each household as compensation and showed indifference to their relocation and living problems, Feng added.

Zhao responded that all demolitions were endorsed by the homeowners.