The Bobai county court in China's southwest Guangxi province sentenced two men to prison who were linked to recent violent clashes between local police and residents over a campaign to enforce penalties, including fines and forced abortion, for couples who violate China's one-child-per-family policy, Reuters reports (Reuters, 7/23).

China's one-child-per-family policy seeks to keep the country's population, now 1.3 billion, at about 1.7 billion by 2050. Methods of enforcing the policy, such as fines and work demotions, vary among Chinese provinces and cities. Dozens of women in southwest China in April reported being forced to undergo abortions as late as nine months into their pregnancies. Some women from Guangxi said they were forced to have abortions because they were unmarried, while other women were married and pregnant with their second child.

The Bobai county government in Guangxi recently increased fines for people who violate the policy and have been seizing or destroying the property of people who cannot pay the fines. Several people have said Guangxi officials have issued fines from 500 yuan, or about $65, to 70,000 yuan, or about $9,000, on families who violated the policy at any time since 1980. Some people said the fine, called a "social child-raising fee," was collected despite the fact that most violators of the policy already had paid a fine. If violators failed to pay the fine within three days, their homes would be destroyed and their belongings seized.

Residents of Guangxi recently attacked family planning officials, overturned cars and set fire to government buildings. Witnesses and Hong Kong media reported in May that riot police entered at least four towns in Guangxi. Twenty-eight residents were detained and are suspected of passing on details of the demonstration, as well as instigating and participating in the riots (Kaiser Daily Women's Health Policy Report, 5/23).

According to Xinhua News Agency, the two men, whose names were given as Peng and Li, photocopied the letterhead and seals from county authority documents onto forged documents claiming the government would refund the "social support fee" and give subsidies to the residents. The two men made 400 copies of the forged document and distributed them to "instigate" the residents to demand the money, according to Xinhua News Agency, Reuters reports. According to Reuters, Peng was among the people forced to pay up to tens of thousands of yuan for unapproved births. Li and Peng were sentenced to one and two years in prison, respectively, for instigating the riots, according to Xinhua News Agency,(Reuters, 7/23).

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