10,000 Clash with Police Over Sewage Pollution 

2009-09-03 11:31

 

For two weeks, residents in Quanzhou district in China’s Fujian Province have gathered outside the local wastewater treatment plant. They're protesting against an unbearable stench.

The treatment plant had a malfunction on August 19, a local official says. And ever since then, the township has been filled with foul-smelling air. Some residents have been on a 24-hour watch at the plant to make sure no more wastewater is released.

The ongoing protest escalated on Monday night when 2,000 riot police was called in. A resident surnamed Qiu told Sound of Hope Radio that the county chief called in the police after protestors trapped him in his car.

[Mr. Qiu, Quanzhou District Resident]:
“Yesterday afternoon, the county chief and deputy chief had a clash with the protestors, because the stench was very strong, and the villagers were already very angry. Perhaps the county chief bumped into someone, and the crowed became agitated, and did not let him go, and trapped him in the car. He called for the military police. There were a lot of them, 10 or 12 cars, and they wanted to take forceful actions. The crowds from a few villages all gathered around, perhaps 10,000 or 20,000 people.”

The protest turned violent after police fired two warning shots and used teargas grenades on the crowd. The crowd, in turn, threw rocks at police. At least 10 people were injured during the protest, the Associated Press says, citing the Information Center for Human Rights and Democracy.

Mr. Qiu says the foul air has only worsened the health of residents already affected by other local pollution.

[Mr. Qiu, Quanzhou District Resident]:
“Now we can’t eat any of our seafood, all of the villagers are very scared.”

Residents say industrial development and poor waste management over the past few years had already resulted in heavy pollution in the seafood producing region.