Tens of Thousands Protest Chemical Plant in China

By Chen Jinghui & Luo Ya
August 14, 2011

Party Secretary gives in under pressure, vows to relocate plant.

Large scale protests broke out in China’s northeastern coastal city of Dalian on Aug. 14, as residents demanded that a paraxylene chemical plant be shut down and moved. They only dispersed after the local Communist Party Secretary gave in to their demands—a rarity in China.

People held banners that read “refuse poison” and “Fujia get out of Dalian.” Fujia is the name of the company that runs the plant.

Dalian resident Mr. Li told Voice of America, “At today’s event there were over 30,000 people, including students and citizens. The entire People’s Plaza was full. I took a lot of pictures and video. The whole place shouted the slogan, ‘Fujia chemical, get out of Dalain.’”

Resident Mr. Chen told The Epoch Times that people held banners and signs, wore poison masks, and distributed bottled water.

Party authorities seemed to waver between suppression and compromise, according to accounts by participants at the protest; in the end they decided on the latter.

At a little past 5 p.m., Communist Party Secretary of the City Tang Jun came to speak, guaranteeing that the plant will be relocated: “The government agreed today to immediately shut it down, tell it to stop production. But it will need time to relocate it,” he said. People then began dispersing.

But the regime was prepared to use force to crush the protest, one resident, Mr. Chou, said. He said that there were several pepper spray trucks in the yard of the city government building, but that they were never deployed.

Dalian resident Mr. Li said that many paramilitary police and regular police came, but did not clash with the protestors. “They also live in Dalian, I think, and they also don’t want their living environment to be polluted.”

Searches for “Dalian,” a city of over six million, were blocked on Sina Weibo, a popular microblogging platform. Residents said that cell phone service in areas around the main plaza was also blocked.

The paraxylene plant is run by Dalian Fujia Dahua Petrochemical Ltd. Construction began in October 2007 and the plant started operation in November 2008.

When typhoon Muifa hit the shores of Dalian, waves breached the dike and flooded the plant. As of Aug. 8, locals said the air around the plant was laced with a sharp odor, leading residents to suspect that poisonous gas had leaked.

When CCTV and other reporters went to the scene they were attacked by security personnel.

The plant is only just over 12 miles from the city center, which heightens local concerns. Paraxylene is toxic to humans and can cause cancer and birth defects.

Source: The Epoch Times.
Link: http://www.theepochtimes.com/n2/china-news/tens-of-thousands-protest-chemical-plant-in-china-60363.html.