China: Violent Protest Halts Waste Incinerator Project

By Jennifer Baker - Revolution News, April 8, 2015

Disclaimer: The views expressed here are not the official position of the IWW (or even the IWW’s EUC) and do not necessarily represent the views of anyone but the author’s. 

A western Guangdong city has cancelled a plan to build an incinerator that prompted two days of protests that escalated up to around 10,000 people, during which several police cars were either smashed or flipped and a Police office destroyed. Luoding city government posted two letters on its website on Wednesday announcing the decision. One informed the Langtang township government that it had decided to cancel the project, which Langtang had brokered with China Resources Cement Holdings. The second urged residents to stop blocking roads, vandalising property or disturbing public order.

“People are angry with the site selection of the incinerator as it is within a 1km radius of people’s homes,” said one young resident. “The cement factory is producing enough pollution, we don’t need another polluter.”

Residents of Long Town in Luoding City, held a sit-in protest combined with local schools on full strike and a march on Monday April 6th in protest against the local government and China Resources Cement’s private construction of a  waste incineration plant. Residents complain that the ground water and air are already heavily polluted, they fear for the health of their families considering the new waste incinerator would bring 100’s of ton’s of garbage daily from neighbouring cities to be burned.

Residents said about 1,000 locals turned up to Monday’s sit-in, which took place outside a cement factory owned by China Resources. Dozens were beaten by around 100 a mix of policemen and security guards dressed in black and armed with batons, helmets and shields. At least 20 people were arrested.

“My nephew is only 14 and is suffering from concussion after he was beaten by the men with batons,” said one resident.

“It was very brutal and totally unnecessary to use such force against unarmed civilians during a peaceful and rational demonstration, especially as they attacked children too.”