Arrests and beatings fail to stop Qianjin's battle against incinerator
Guangzhou
(AsiaNews) - For the third time in two weeks, residents of the village of
Qianjin have taken to the streets to protest against the planned construction
of an incinerator that will put at risk the ecosystem and the health of residents
in the area. The
government has mandated private industry to build the plant in Shiling, an
important leather manufacturing center in the rich province of Guangdong. But
residents of the nearby village complain that this will become a vehicle for
cancer and pollution.
Despite
a massive presence of the armed forces, about 10 thousand demonstrators arrived
in Huadu district - in the provincial capital Guangzhou - to ask the government
to backtrack. In
the first wave of clashes at least four protesters were seriously injured by agents,
armed with shields and sticks.
But
this failed to halt the protesters who continued their march on government buildings
chanting slogans such as: "You want to turn Shiling into a dead
zone." Arriving
near the town hall, police charged again, wounding other demonstrators and carrying
away at least 20 of them, considered the protest leaders.
The
arrests and clashes have not deterred the residents. A
man of 30 years, who crafts leather bags in Shiling, told the South China Morning Post: "If we don't keep on fighting, there
will be no home to go back to. We don't want to be the next Likeng, move the
incinerator elsewhere and work on other ways to reduce garbage".
The
protests for environmental protection have increased in China in recent years. The
unbridled industrial production and the corruption of the ruling class and
politics has increased cases of highly polluting landfills and factories, which
the population is beginning to oppose. A
few days ago the people of Jiangmen - always in Guangdong - protested until the
government backtracked on a project for a uranium processing plant in their
area.
.png)
