BEIJING - HUNDREDS of furniture makers and businessmen smashed police cars and blocked a highway in eastern China on Monday, protesting the implementation of proposed tax measures, officials and state press said.

The protesters gathered outside a furniture exhibition centre in Nankang city, Jiangxi province, to demonstrate against the measures when they began blocking traffic on a highway outside the centre, the city government said.

'Some of the the owners of furniture enterprises are unclear about the regulations and mistakenly believe that the government is trying to destroy the furniture industry,' a statement on the Nankang government website said.

The statement said only about 25 per cent of the taxes from Nankang furniture companies were being paid, so the new measures - details of which were not immediately available, had to be implemented.

According to Xinhua news agency, protesters also overturned several police vehicles but no injuries were reported.

About 100 furniture makers also petitioned at the offices of the city government, a city official told AFP by phone.

'The city government is handling this issue. It's about the provincial ... department's decision to rectify the furniture market,' he said, without further elaboration.

China sees tens of thousands of protests or outbursts of violence every year, often stemming from dissatisfaction with local authorities, with attacks on police stations or government offices becoming increasingly common.

Late last month, hundreds of angry tea farmers attacked a police station in southern China after rumours spread that one man had been killed in custody for fighting for farmers' rights. -- AFP