Sources in China told Human Rights in China that hundreds of petitioners have been rounded up, detained and beaten in Beijing, Shanghai and northeastern China, the rights group said in a statement seen yesterday.

In one incident in Beijing Wednesday, dozens of petitioners from Shanghai were reportedly surrounded by more than 100 police officers as they left their hostel for the State Councils office in Beijing which handles complaints, HRIC said.

Police reportedly forced the petitioners into waiting vehicles and transported them to a place called Majialou, where more than 600 other petitioners from places such as Liaoning and Jilin provinces and Shanghai city were already being held, the statement said.

The new group of petitioners were released the next day and sent back to Shanghai by train.

According to HRICs sources, a group of more than 200 petitioners from Shanghai boarded a Beijing-bound train on April 24, only to encounter more than 100 police officers and officials who detained them as soon as the train left the station.

When the train reached a city that evening, police and officials reportedly removed more than 70 of the petitioners from the train, beating some.

Most of the Shanghai petitioners detained in Beijing were petitioning over the loss of their homes in government-approved redevelopment projects.

The petitioners said that during their most recent detention in Beijing, they were obliged to submit to being photographed and produce other evidence before they were given anything to eat, HRIC said.