An illegal fund-raising dispute in central China's Hunan Province led to lenders' chaotic petition to local authorities on Wednesday and Thursday, causing road block and railway suspension.

The lenders gathered at the Xiangxi Tujia and Miao Autonomous Prefecture government on Wednesday asking for authorities' intervention after the fund-raising company failed to pay them back as promised.

Some of them and lookers-on swarmed to the railway station of Jishou City, capital of the prefecture, at 10 p.m., but were persuaded by officials, including provincial law and public security chief Li Jiang, to leave about an hour later.

The lenders, however, gathered again Thursday morning in streets and at the railway station, blocking traffic and delaying trains.

Provincial vice governor Xu Xianping and banking regulatory officials came to Jishou on Thursday to handle the affair.

The executives of the company were controlled and the petitioners dispersed after registering their investments to local authorities.

The traffic had returned to normal and the railway station had resumed operation by Thursday evening.

Underground fund-raising has existed for long in Xiangxi. Some companies have been in payback crisis since June, causing panic among lenders.

(Xinhua News Agency September 5, 2008)