Angry Chinese protesters overturn police vans

BEIJING (AP) - Thousands of residents have protested in a southeastern Chinese city after a traffic accident, smashing police cars and overturning three police vans, police and residents said on Sunday.

The reason why the protest sparked in Fuan city in Fujian province was unclear. One resident said people got angry because police and paramedics took nearly an hour to arrive to help the injured, while a Hong Kong-based human rights group said it was to do with corruption.

But such protests have become increasingly common in China, and Saturday's violence is another reminder that the country's new leadership has to deal with underlying social discontent that often boils over. People are fed up with corruption and high-handed officialdom, pensions that have not kept pace with inflation, and families being forced from their homes to make way for developments.

Residents said police were stopping cars and checking people for driving after drinking on Saturday evening when the accident happened on a main road in Fuan.