Eight people who illegally built a house to be used as a church in Xiaoshan District in Hangzhou, east China's Zhejiang Province, and tried to stop demolition enforcement by force were sentenced to one to three and a half years in prison by a local court on Saturday.

The Xiaoshan District People's Court said Shen Zhuke, Ni Weimin, Luo Bingliang, Feng Guangliang and four others constructed a 820-square-meter unlawful house to be used as a church on July 17. They completed construction on the morning of July 29.

The building occupied an area on which a commercial center of the suburban district was planned. The construction of the building had not got approval from local land management and construction departments, said the court.

The builders had violated the law and regulations on land management and city planning, the court ruled.

The eight people instigated more than 1,000 people to confront the enforcement officers who were ordered to demolish the building from July 26 to 29, injuring at least ten government workers.

The illegal building was toppled down on July 29.

Shen Zhuke, who had been found to be the principal perpetrator, was sentenced to three and a half years in prison; Ni Weimin, two years imprisonment with three-year probation; Luo Bingliang, one year in prison; and Feng Guangliang, two years imprisonment. The other four people also got various terms.

The City Planning Ordinance of the People's Republic of China, approved by the State Council on October 13, 1989 and in force since April 1, 1990, stipulates that any building without authorization and a construction certificate is unlawful and the local government has the right to demolish it.

According to the Law on Land Management of the People's Republic of China, adopted by the country's legislature on August 29, 1998 and in force since January 1, 1999, the local government has the right to ask those illegally occupying land to vacate it.

"Before demolishing the building, the government had negotiated with the builders and offered a plot of land nearby for their use, " said a local government official.

But they refused and continued the construction, he said, adding that the district government carried out the demolition and arrested two people involved with the illegal construction according to law.