2015-05-21
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Protestors rally in Guangdong’s Qianshui to protest a planned garbage incinerator, May 20, 2015.
Photo courtesy of an RFA listener.
Authorities in the southern Chinese province of Guangdong said on Thursday they will “track down” the leaders of a mass protest that gathered outside government offices in protest over plans to build a waste incinerator near their homes.
Tens of thousands of residents of Qianshui township near Guangdong’s Wuchuan city gathered outside government offices on Wednesday, calling on the government to cancel plans to build a waste incinerator near their homes.
Clashes broke out between protesters and police after riot police were drafted in to disperse the crowd, local sources said.
The director of the Wuchuan municipal government press office, who gave only his surname Huang, said the hunt is now on for the protest’s organizers.
“Today we are going to be tracking down the leaders, and finding out who paid for all these banners, and who is behind it, because we have to get this straight,” Huang said, adding: “There will probably be some developments in a few days’ time.”
“These villagers surrounded the township government offices, kicking up a fuss, and they stuck their handbills everywhere, and they were carrying banners,” he said.
Huang dismissed concerns that the plant might pollute the surrounding area.
“That’s really not likely at all,” Huang said. “We haven’t built it yet, or even broken ground on it. There isn’t a plan or a schematic yet, and we haven’t had the conclusions back from the environmental
impact assessment.”
He added: “They are just coming here to cause trouble.”
No consultation process
A resident of Qianshui township surnamed Feng said the protest had begun peacefully enough.
“We went to protest outside the township government [on Wednesday] morning, and they didn’t send any police until the afternoon,” he told RFA on Thursday.
“Then they sent traffic cops and riot police with weapons and there were some clashes at the intersection, and they dragged some people away,” Feng said.
He added: “No officials came out, and then they said there’d be a village committee meeting, where they said they are definitely going to build this, and that there won’t be any pollution, and that they have already signed the contract with the developer.”
A local resident surnamed Tang said the government hadn’t consulted local people before making the decision.
“There has been no consultation process, nor any communication with local people,” he said. “Now that people have found out about these plans, they are opposing them.”
“They are worried about the environment and the air pollution and foul gases, and they are demanding that it be halted. It will have a bad effect on Qianshui township and other townships under Huazhou city,” Tang said.
“This was the first demonstration we had, and there will probably be more coming soon.”
An official who answered the phone at the Qianshui township government offices declined to comment on Wednesday. “I don’t know about this; you’ll have to get our leaders to answer you,” the official said.
Villagers said via social media that the planned incinerator will be located upstream of their homes, and fear it will affect their crops and orchards.
