Hundreds take to the streets in protest over power plant
Print Edition
HUNDREDS of people in China’s southern Guangdong Province protested against the expansion of a coal-fired power plant yesterday.
Residents have been complaining of smog in the city of Heyuan since the power plant began operations in 2008, and officials recently approved a second phase of the project, Xinhua news agency reported yesterday.
“There has been a strong police presence, though no reports of violence since the protest began at around 10am,” Xinhua said.
Residents collected more than 10,000 signatures in March on a petition opposing the expansion, it said.
Photos circulating online showed hundreds of people marching in the street, with some holding banners denouncing the project as damaging to health.
Xinhua said thousands had taken to the streets, but an official at the Heyuan government’s publicity office said only about 200 people had joined the protest.
“There was no conflict. We are having a meeting right now to study the issue. City government leaders have gone to see protesters and communicate with them,” the official said.
The Chinese government has declared war on pollution, vowing to abandon a decades-old growth-at-all-costs economic model that has polluted China’s water, air and soil.
China is trying to slash coal-burning and has also vowed to close thousands of industrial enterprises if they fail to comply with stricter standards.
Still, choking smog blankets many cities and the environmental degradation resulting from the country’s breakneck economic growth has angered its increasingly well-educated and affluent population.
According to official data, only eight of 74 cities monitored by the Ministry of Environmental Protection last year met air quality standards, and the government does not expect average pollution levels to make the grade until 2030.
Reports of “mass incidents” have become increasingly common in China, triggered by pollution, illegal land grabs and other grievances.
Government researchers have warned that a failure to tackle China’s huge pollution problems in the coming years could stoke public discontent and create “social conflicts.”
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