Protesters clash with Chinese police in Shenzhen

BEIJING, (Reuters) - Five hundred property owners in China's booming southern city of Shenzhen clashed with police during protests over government plans to build a highway, a Hong Kong newspaper said on Saturday.

Residents of a housing estate in Shenzhen staged a sit-in protest on one of the city's busiest streets on Friday after government officials refused to talk to them earlier outside a "citizens' centre", the South China Morning Post said.

"We are all agitated and surprised," the paper quoted Tang Tang, a protest leader, as saying.

"We were informed of this construction project at the end of September. There haven't been any hearings for residents about whether they will be inconvenienced," she said.

At least 10 people were arrested in clashes with police, but were later released after residents agreed to disperse. At least two people were injured, the paper said.