IN A dramatic demonstration of civil activism, hundreds of residents of China’s southern city of Guangzhou protested outside government offices to oppose plans for a major garbage incinerator that they say will endanger their health and the environment.
Meanwhile, crowds of people in Kunming, the capital of Yunnan province, took to the streets and blocked passage to the Snail Bay wholesale market, which the government wants to knock down.
Despite tight controls on dissent in China, people regularly take to the streets to make their feelings known about local issues that affect their lives. In many ways, the demonstrations show the new face of activism in China.
Photographs from Guangzhou showed smartly dressed, middle-aged protesters with banners protesting against the Panyu incineration plant, intended to handle 2,000 tonnes of rubbish a day. Protesters believe it will endanger residents’ health, as a similar incinerator built near Guangzhou’s Likeng village did in 2005.
The rising middle class in China, on whom the Communist Party relies for support, has been vocal in opposing schemes seen as threats to its quality of life.
More than 1,200 protesters had demanded the resignation of the city’s deputy general secretary, Lu Zhiyi, during a large protest outside the Guangzhou municipal government building.
Guangzhou is capital of the heavily industrialised Guangdong province, home to the badly polluted Pearl River Delta.
A proposed multi-billion euro oil refinery in Nansha, just downstream from Guangzhou along the Pearl River, was relocated to a less populated area in western Guangdong after major public uproar.
Some years ago, locals in Xiamen in Fujian province demonstrated against a plan to build the PX chemical plant in their city.
In Yunnan province, demonstrators staged a protest to stop the government from closing the Snail Bay wholesale market, which has more the 10,000 businesses and employs almost 100,000 persons.
One Snail Bay trader told local media: “We had no choice now. There are more than 10,000 businesses here employing more than 100,000 persons. The government was to force this market to be shut down before November 30th.
“Each business has invested an average of 550,000 yuan [€53,700] in rent and other expenses, but the government is offering no compensation to us. We cannot accept this. We refuse to move.”
Rocks were thrown at police, who responded by firing tear gas to disperse the hundreds gathered to protest, and 24 people were arrested on public disturbance charges.