A plot of disputed land next to a church in China's Zhejiang province has been sold by authorities after a clash between Catholics and security officials.
The site measuring 800 square meters next to Immaculate Conception Church in Hangzhou Diocese was sold at auction on May 28 as commercial land.
The day before the auction, dozens of security guards, policemen and public security officers clashed with Catholics on the land, a source said. A Catholic fainted and was taken to hospital but was discharged the next day.
Hundreds of Catholics prayed at the site on May 28 after the diocese called on them to pray for a proper solution to the land dispute.
Another church source said more than a dozen policemen were still stationed at the site on May 29, while local authorities sent personnel to sit at the church's office and entrance all day long.
The Hangzhou church originally owned 1,500 square meters of land containing a church-run primary school, a minor seminary and a study room, the source said.
During the Cultural Revolution from 1966-76, the land was occupied by the government and a school was built.
In 1980, China's State Council issued a document urging local authorities to return all categories of real estate originally belonging to religious groups but occupied by authorities.
The church hoped about 800 square meters of the land would be reserved for its own use. When authorities had failed to return the land by 1991, the late Bishop Zhu Fengqing of Hangzhou complained to authorities without success.
The source said the church, Hangzhou Bureau of Religious Affairs, the school authority and the demolition office had been discussing ownership of the land. The government said it would not return the land but would pay compensation of 2 million yuan (US$311,000).
The source said the land was believed to be worth 200 million yuan and the church refused the compensation offer, but the government auctioned the land before the problem was resolved.
A church source said authorities were reluctant to return the land because they claimed the church had given it to them of its own accord.
It is reported that developers recently surrounded the land.