Hundreds of people in a remote Chinese village have fought off riot police with rocks and stones after an attempt to put the town in lockdown turned bloody.

About 2000 armed police, wearing helmets and carrying shields, swarmed the tiny fishing town of Wukan in southern Guangdong province to put an end to the village’s democratic ways, the ABC reports .

Mobile photo footage of the dramatic clash shows hundreds of police being forced back by a shower of large rocks hurled at them by villagers.

Armed police attacked villagers, many of whom are pensioners, during the attempted lockdown of Wukan village. (AAP/ABC)

“Many people in the village were hit by rubber bullets,” a local said, adding that police had stormed his family home and arrested his mother.

“My sister was hit in the foot and the head.”

The village of Wukan has a history of political activism after standing up to authority five years ago over alleged illegal land grabs and being afforded the right to democratically elect its leader.