Hundreds of migrant workers surrounded a student dormitory at the Communication University of China, demanding more than 100,000 yuan (US$12, 500) in unpaid construction fees, the China Times reported.

Police officers maintain order as hundreds of migrant workers demand more than 100,000 yuan (US$12, 500) in unpaid construction fees at the Communication University of China August 21, 2006. [China Times]

Enraged workers lay siege to a police car and injured a man's neck, the paper says, without giving the identity of the man.

A woman surnamed Li who was sitting in the police car at the time is the head of the construction project, according to the workers. "It is she who transferred the construction operation to a man called Li Jian who then fled with our money," said a worker.

A manager with the contract company, Guo Du Construction Decoration Co Ltd., surnamed Ding promised to pay the construction fee to the furious workers.

"We worked on the apartment NO1-NO6 and inked an agreement with Li Jian who promised to pay us 33 yuan (US$4) per kilometer. Li said he was working for the Fu Ren Decoration Company," one of the construction heads told the paper on condition of anonymity. "We discovered there wasn't a staffer called Li Jian there and the project was not under contract with Fu Ren."

When workers finished the work they had agreed to on apartment NO.5, Li fled, according to the paper.

"After we agreed to do the construction, we transferred the project to Li, " Ding says. "She signed a contract with us and the workers were to be paid 19 yuan (US$2.4) per kilometer.

"Li Jian has fled with more than 40,000 yuan (US$5000) and I don't know who he is," says Ding.

Many workers differ over the amount of money, according to the paper.

A source from the university told the paper that the university has paid 30 percent of the construction fee to the company and the rest will be paid after workers finish the project.

The police are investigating.

The government has stepped up efforts to protect the interests of migrant workers who are not paid on time.