BEIJING (AP) — Farmers in earthquake-devastated southwest China beat a village chief and clashed with police this week after they claimed they were cheated out of quake relief subsidies, state media said.

Wednesday's clash in Anxian county — one of the hardest-hit areas from last May's quake — left an unspecified number of farmers and police injured and calm was restored after 100 police were brought in, the official Xinhua News Agency said late Friday.

Xinhua reported that tensions flared after five villagers said they were denied subsidies and beat the head of Yongquan village. After some of the farmers were detained for the beating, 20 more villagers then surrounded the local police station.

An official in Anxian county's propaganda office played down the conflict but confirmed that a dispute occurred over relief subsidies. The official said farmers were dredging sand from a river bed for construction and when local officials tried to stop them, they raised the issue of quake subsidies.