China orders closure of plant after protests

THOUSANDS OF people took to the streets in the northeastern Chinese city of Dalian yesterday to protest against a petrochemical…

THOUSANDS OF people took to the streets in the northeastern Chinese city of Dalian yesterday to protest against a petrochemical plant that recently caused a toxic spill scare.

The rare display of people power forced the authorities to order the facility to be closed immediately. State news agency Xinhua reported how 12,000 demonstrators held a stand-off with riot police in front of the municipal offices in the port city.

The protest marks the latest challenge to the authority of China’s Communist Party, and environmental issues have become a powerful catalyst in breeding dissent. The central government has vowed to address environmental and other controversial issues such as land grabs, but local governments often rely on revenues from their stakes in companies such as chemical facilities, along with other contentious sources.

The protesters were involved in what have become known as “group strolls”, which are one way for Chinese people to show discontent with the government.

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As with so many outbreaks of public anger this year – ranging from complaints about Beijing’s handling of the Wenzhou high-speed rail crash to reaction to anti-authoritarian action in the Middle East – the calls for protest have come on the popular microblogging site Weibo and on the instant messaging system, QQ.

While there were minor scuffles, including a moment when demonstrators threw plastic water bottles at police, there were no injuries. The demonstration appeared to be well-organised.

Last week’s Typhoon Muifa breached a dyke protecting the Fujia plant, which makes paraxylene (PX), a toxic petrochemical used in making polyester fabric.

Hundreds of thousands of people had to be evacuated from the area, and the dyke has since been repaired.

“Before giving the order to shut down the plant, Dalian’s Communist Party chief Tang Jun and mayor Li Wancai tried to appease the crowd by promising to move the plant out, but protesters demanded a clear timetable for relocation,” Xinhua reported.

One protester, surnamed Wang, was quoted on local media as saying: “Dalian is China’s ‘Garden City’. The plant, located only 20 kilometres away from the city centre, is like a time bomb.”

What was striking about the demonstration was how relaxed and cheerful the protesters appeared as they chanted “We want to survive” and “We want a good environment”. Local media said they sang the national anthem and chanted the patriotic slogan “Serve the People”.

Many of them were wearing jerseys of the Inter Milan soccer team, which played in Beijing last week. Young women wore facemasks with “No PX” symbols on them, and in other pictures women appeared to be putting stickers onto riot police helmets. Others wore T-shirts specially printed for the demonstration.

One photograph showed a demonstrator with a raised middle digit pointing at a local government building – a direct reference to Ai Weiwei’s series of photographs, which featured him raising the finger to some of the world’s most famous government sites, including the Mao Zedong portrait on the front of the Forbidden City, and the White House.

The protesters seemed to be mostly middle-class young people, a core demographic of support for the Communist Party and one it is loath to alienate.

In similar protests in Xiamen in 2007, also about placing a PX plant in the downtown area, the protesters were also well-to-do youngsters – and the government similarly backed down.