The riots erupted in Zhejiang province after over 100 migrant workers tried to lodge a complaint with police over the beating of a labourer, the Hong Kong-based Information Centre for Human Rights and Democracy said.

The worker, identified as Zhang Zhongfu, had been beaten by security guards last week while trying to apply for a residential permit at the Yuhuan county government office, it said.

After police refused to respond to the complaints, the workers began destroying police motorcycles and smashing windows at the police station, it said.

Police arrested 23 of the workers, including Zhang, the rights group and the government said.

Over the next two nights "more and more migrant workers" encircled the police station, with up to 1,000 workers attacking government buildings, the rights group and local government said on its website.

The rioting is the latest bout of unrest to hit China in recent months and comes despite a massive security clampdown aimed at maintaining social stability ahead of next month's Beijing Olympics.

In late June, up to 30,000 protesters marched in southwest China's Guizhou province, sparking riots that left local government and police buildings burned and looted.

Police brutality and mistrust of government officials played a role in sparking those riots, the government acknowledged.

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