A man who is resisting demolition has turned his three-story house in east China's Anhui Province into a military fortress guarded with nine dogs, four cameras and a flame gun.

Zhang Anfang's house is surrounded by buildings under construction.

Zhang Anfang has guarded his house in downtown Bengbu City in this way for six years since the tension between him and a real estate developer accumulated after compensation talks failed, yesterday's Legal Daily newspaper reported.

Zhang claimed the developer cut off his water, power and gas supplies to force him out of the building, attacked his house and threatened to force a demolition.

He now lives on water carried far from the building and power from his own generator, he told the newspaper.

He spends nearly 1,000 yuan (US$148) a month to keep the nine ferocious dogs to guard his building.

But staff with the developer, Bengbu Jiutong Real Estate Development Co Ltd, denied Zhang's accusations, saying the compensation talks failed because Zhang asked too much.

Zhang sought five apartments, one for each of his sons, they said. But according to rules, he was entitled to only one apartment plus a little cash for the 110-square-meter building.