A Hebei tourist yesterday said he would ask for claims on behalf of 126 mainland tourists who were involved in a furious dispute with Macao tour guides and police that eventually caused riot police to be called in to calm the confusion.

Zhang Yajun, one of the tourists involved in the dispute, said he would represent the mainlanders, all from Tangshan, Hebei Province, to complain to the National Tourism Administration and demand compensation from a Macao travel agency, China News Service reported today.

Guides from the Macao Wanguo Youth Travel Agency were accused of trying to force the mainlanders to pay for activities not on the schedule and threatening to abandon them without food or accommodation on December 4.

The mainlanders have already filed compensation demands to the Macao travel agency, but received no reply, Zhang said, who's also a member of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference of Tangshan, the report said.

About 30 armed riot police had been sent in to calm a furious dispute between the mainlanders and their Macao guides, Macao Daily News reported on December 6.

The dispute between the mainlanders and the Macao guides soon escalated into an ugly fistfight and eventually involved about 30 armed riot police, who were brought in to calm the eight-hour dispute, according to previous reports.

Four Macao tour guides involved in the dispute have been punished and the Macao Wanguo Youth Travel Agency was banned from the tour-guide business, according to the report.

The Tangshan Aviation International Travel Service Co, which organized the mainlanders' Macao trip, said it welcomed the moves but that it might not be enough to wrap up the case, the report said.

The Macao tourism bureau reported the dispute to the National Tourism Administration in Beijing on December 15.

(Shanghai Daily December 19, 2007)