Check out this AP photo and the accompanying story “China’s ‘stubborn nail’ stands firm” —
Reminds me of the Warner Bros. classic “Homeless Hare,” where Bugs Bunny objects to a developer’s efforts to evict him from his hole: “Hey ya big gorilla, didn’t you ever hear about the sanctity of the American home?”
Wu Ping owns a home in Chongqing and apparently doesn’t want to get out of the way for redevelopment:
A legal battle has raged since she rejected the compensation offer as she has maintained that she cannot be forced to move out.
A local court ordered her to allow the structure to be torn down by Thursday, although she continued to refuse and it was not immediately clear what steps authorities would take next.
Property disputes are rife in China, often involving illegal land grabs by developers in collusion the government.
The national parliament passed a landmark law solidifying private property rights this month partly to combat such disputes.
. . .
“If the government does not respect people’s rights in the case, it will raise suspicions about the entanglement of civil rights, property development and government interests.”
I wonder what position the PRC government will take if its officials retaliate against Ms. Wu? Will they argue, like the US government in the recently-argued Wilkie v. Robbins case, that there is no legal remedy because the law does not specifically forbid retaliation?
Update: apparently, this photo reminds others of Bugs. Google reveals that Boing Boing has a post titled “Calvacade of homeowner holdouts,” with more on Ms. Wu, and other cases of holdouts, with photos. New Jersey Eminent Domain blog also posts this article with more details of the Wu case.