BEIJING, April 13 (Reuters) - A southern China court has jailed seven villagers for up to four years for protesting over a land dispute, a lawyer and a human rights group said on Friday, in the latest crackdown on dissent.

Liu Dehuo from Nanhai county in the southern province of Guangdong, one of the protest organisers who had demanded compensation for land seized by a local company, received a four-year sentence, his lawyer Zhang Jiankang told Reuters.

"The court's decision was totally unreasonable and unjust," Zhang said by telephone.

"They (the villagers) only demanded that their rights be protected," he said, adding that the government had prevented him from defending his client.

Six other participants were also sentenced to between two years and six months and four years on the same charges, the Chinese Human Rights Defenders said in an e-mailed statement.

Court officials were not available to comment.

Social unrest -- fuelled by corruption, illegal land grabs and a rising gap between rich and poor -- is challenging the ruling Communist Party's efforts to maintain stability and its grip on power.

Official figures show the number of mass incidents -- a euphemism for protests and riots -- reached 23,000 in 2006, compared to about 10,000 in 1994.

On Wednesday, over 200 petitioners in China's financial hub of Shanghai clashed with more than 100 police in a protest over an article published by an official Communist Party newspaper, the New York-based Human Rights in China said.

The petitioners disputed a story in the Jiefang Daily which said their complaints were being properly dealt with, the group said.

"Over 100 police officers reportedly confronted the petitioners and forcibly loaded them into police vehicles," the group said, adding they were later released.

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