At least 68 people were hurt after residents took to the streets to demand that a planned railway line pass through their county, the government of Linshui County in southwest China's Sichuan Province said yesterday.

A crowd gathered at the expressway exit again on Sunday afternoon. Most were persuaded to disperse but about 20 people were taken away by police. No one was injured on that occasion.

The protests which began on Saturday morning turned violent at night, it said, when about 100 people blocked an expressway exit. There were clashes with police and three vehicles, including an ambulance, were set alight. More than 30 policemen and 38 residents were injured, it said.

Police seized about 40 protesters.

A crowd gathered at the expressway exit again on Sunday afternoon. Most were persuaded to disperse but about 20 people were taken away by police. No one was injured on that occasion.

All those injured are in the stable condition, the government said. It didn't say whether any of the protesters had been detained.

According to The Beijing News, Linshui residents were angered when the economic planning body in Guang'an City, which administers Linshui, said that the county wouldn't be on a proposed rail route between Dazhou and Chongqing in the province.

However, the Sichuan railway construction office said yesterday that nothing had yet been approved and that the rail link proposal was only at a preliminary investigation stage.

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