'AIDS demolition team' outed in Henan city

The government of Nanyang, Henan Province, is probing allegations of an "AIDS demolition team" said to have threatened residents who refuse to move out of their houses with infection.

Ma Bing, Party chief of Wolong district of Nanyang, denied on Tuesday that the team was hired by the local government, The Beijing News reported on Wednesday.

Photos of red graffiti that read "AIDS demolition team" on the exterior walls of a building went viral on social media since Monday, triggering public outcry.

Zhang Zhenduo, a resident of Wolong district, confirmed to the Global Times that the graffiti had been left on nearby streets, as well as facades, passageways and staircases in his residential building on December 13.

Zhang said the graffiti had been left by a group of six people, one woman and five men, since December 7. They claimed to be AIDS patients who were paid 300,000 yuan ($48,233) to clear the building for demolition by a developer, according to Zhang.

Zhang said the gang knocked at the door of each house every day and stayed in an empty room at the third floor for the rest of the time. A paper with "Office of AIDS Demolition Team" on it was stuck to the door.

In 2012 the developer, Nanyang Yian Real Estate Company, attempted to erect a commercial property on the plot nearby the city center.

As of now, 26 households have moved away while 28 families remain.

They elected Zhang as the representative of the house owners to negotiate with the developer since he used to work in the local procuratorate.

The windows of Zhang's house have been repeatedly smashed with steel balls. Zhang called the police several times, but "police officers just took pictures of the scene without saying whether a case had been filed," Zhang said.

The police refused to comment on the case's progress, while the city's publicity department could not be reached by the Global Times.

It is not yet known whether the team really included AIDS patients or just used the disease as a threat. An outbreak of AIDS/HIV was reported in 2004 in Henan Province as many villagers were found infected of the disease through illegal blood sales.

Xinhua contributed to this story