CHINA: Security is high in a southwest city after protests forced the local government to halt the construction of a copper refinery residents believed would poison them

Record ID: 216969

  • Title: CHINA: Security is high in a southwest city after protests forced the local government to halt the construction of a copper refinery residents believed would poison them
  • Date: 4th July 2012
  • Summary: SHIFANG CITY, SICHUAN PROVINCE, CHINA (JULY 4, 2012) (REUTERS) POLICE VEHICLES PARKED ON ROAD, POLICE VAN COMING OUT OF GATE CAR PARK WHERE MILITARY TRUCKS ARE PARKED POLICE BUS PARKED ON ROADSIDE GROUP OF POLICEMEN WALKING ON ROAD CROWD OF PEOPLE AND POLICEMEN STANDING OPPOSITE GATE TO SHIFANG COMMUNIST PARTY HEADQUARTERS MILITARY OFFICERS INSIDE CARPARK WHERE MILITARY VE
  • Embargoed: 19th July 2012 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: China
  • Country: China
  • Topics: Business,Industry
  • Reuters ID: LVAA78DWB8JUHIBQ039NPI6IQ1SB
  • Story Text: Authorities in a southwestern Chinese city halted construction of a copper refinery following protests by residents that it would poison them, and freed most of the people who were detained after a clash with police over the row.
    Tens of thousands of people in Shifang, Sichuan province, had taken to the streets over the past three days against the government's plans to allow building of the 1.6 billion U.S. dollar plant, the latest unrest spurred by environmental concerns in the world's second-largest economy.
    Security remained high outside the city's Communist Party headquarters on Wednesday (July 4), with police and a car park full of military vehicles making sure a crowd of around one hundred people gathered opposite did not cause trouble.
    Police vehicles patrolled the city centre and loudspeakers urged people not to believe rumours.
    The Shifang government said police had "forcibly taken away 27 suspected criminals" on Monday (June 2) and Tuesday (June 3) for tearing down the door of the municipal government building, smashing windows, and throwing bricks and stones. They clashed with thousands of riot police, who fired teargas to disperse the crowd.
    Six are still in police custody, the city government said.
    On Tuesday night, the local government said it was halting the metals project planned by Shanghai-listed Sichuan Hongda, one of China's biggest zinc and lead producers.
    The city initially had said it would only suspend the project.
    Inside Sichuan Hongda's existing Shifang site, near where the new plant was due to be built, a huge slag heap towers over the small villages nearby.
    Villagers who spoke to Reuters said they already suffered from pollution, did not dare drink the water, and said the wind would blow the dust that withered their crops.
    They said they dared not be interviewed for television, saying the local government would detain them, and family members working at the plant would lose their jobs.
    The International Finance Corp, an arm of the World Bank has said copper smelting and refining can produce mercury, sulphur dioxide, arsenic and other pollutants.
    The protests are emblematic of the rising discontent facing Chinese leaders, determined to maintain stability but struggling to balance growth with rising public anger over environmental threats.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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