Posted on 07/01/2005 7:16:53 AM PDT by TigerLikesRooster
Hundreds of villagers in eastern China riot against polluting factory
Thursday ?June 30, 2005
Hundreds of Chinese villagers have marched on a battery factory which they say is poisoning their children and held 1,000 workers hostage, residents and officials said.
About 600 people from Jianxia village in the eastern province of Zhejiang took control of the Zhejiang Tianneng Battery company and barricaded workers inside, resident Han Cheng told AFP Thursday.
But a promise made Thursday afternoon by factory managers to stop production and carry out investigations helped defuse the tense five-day standoff.
"The problem has been more or less solved this afternoon," said a resident surnamed Huang in the village 150 kilometres (90 miles) south of Shanghai.
"Most people have started to go home after negotiations with officials and police and the factory will stop production for 15 days," said Huang.
"Factory leaders gave their promises and people are sort of satisfied for now, but now it remains to be seen if they'll keep their promises."
Infuriated residents from the village of about 3,000 marched on the factory on Sunday, saying the pollution it produces when making car batteries is making their children ill.
"There are about 200 children in the village and they are all getting sick," said Han, who has a four-year-old daughter. "They are polluting the air and it has been going on for 15 years."
Four people were hospitalised after factory workers and villagers fought each other, he said.
Officials in Meishan township which oversees the village said they would run tests to judge the extent of the villagers' health problems and the environmental damage caused by the foreign-invested company.
"This can all be discussed over the table but it is not right not to allow workers to come out," said a Meishan official, refusing to be identified.
Police refused to comment on the incident, while telephones at the plant were not answered.
Social unrest that often turns violent is becoming increasingly common in China, reflecting a high degree of dissatisfaction and distrust of authorities and of businesses.
In one incident Sunday thousands rioted in eastern Anhui province following a traffic accident, smashing police cars and attacking a paramilitary force sent to quell the angry mob.
Although many companies in China today are private, local governments are often investors and therefore routinely overlook environmental issues or citizens' complaints, to ensure maximun profits.
At Zhejiang Tianneng Battery factory, a private company with 750 million yuan (90.6 million dollars) in assets that also has Hong Kong and US investment of 12 million dollars, Meishan party officials form part of the management team.
People in the world's most populous nation are also becoming increasingly well informed about pollution and demanding action for a problem that has plagued the country for years.
China's top environment official this week lambasted the nation's failure to enforce environmental laws, saying greater enforcement is crucial to stemming worsening pollution.
"Non-enforcement and lax enforcement of laws and administrative inactivity are the main targets we must aim at," said Xie Zhenhua, director of the State Environmental Protection Agency. ?AFP
Ping!
"Although many companies in China today are private, local governments are often investors and therefore routinely overlook environmental issues or citizens' complaints, to ensure maximun profits. "
Welcome to Capitalism, ChiComms!
Wonder how they could pinpoint the damage to the battery factory? From what I saw, every factory thinkable was chugging out exhaust, soot, and who knows what else.
The scent of coal burning is a common Chinese smell.
The pollution was so bad in Guiyang the galvanized highway guard rails were black. In the morning, the soot had settled overnight on the street heavy enough if I stepped, a puff of soot puddled around my feet like dust on a dry dirt road.
The report I came across said that this neighborhood is called the "battery capital" of China, and there are 100 battery factories. So chances are high that they are involved.
Ignorant and dumb. Great combination.
With overblown ego.
Part of me, the part that tend to be a bit of the tin foil type, wonders if all these reports of riots are manufactured to present a "weaker" picture.
The "tragedy of the commons"...
Lead contamination is the big problem around battery plants.
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