Hundreds of protesters clashed with riot police in southern China on Thursday and Friday over plans to build a crematorium.

The protests took place in Wenlou, in Guandong province, about 100 km (60 miles) from Hong Kong, according to the South China Morning Post (SCMP).

The protests began when residents discovered that land they thought had been allocated for a park would be used for a crematorium instead.

Images and videos of the protests surfaced on Chinese microblogging platform Weibo, showing a heavy police presence and a large number of protesters.

Violent clashes

Several Weibo accounts showed photographs of the protests — in one, a female protester is pictured holding up a homemade placard opposing the building of the crematorium.

According to the SCMP, the riot police fired tear gas and beat protesters.

Some teenagers and at least one elderly woman were injured in the protests, witnesses claimed.

Some videos posted on Weibo accounts on Friday were later removed from the site.

The SCMP reported that around 50 people were detained in the protests.

Unrest between the authorities and Chinese people is not uncommon, yet Chinese authorities clamp down hard on protests as well as removing videos, photographs and posts from social media. Often protests are over land disputes as well as other issues such as pollution.

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