MCLC: anti-pollution protesters freed

[Denton, Kirk]

MCLC LIST
From: Bil (billgoldman at mac.com)
Subject: anti-pollution protesters freed
**************************************************

Source: The Guardian (7/4/12):
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/jul/04/shifang-china-releases-antipoll
ution-protesters

Chinese anti-pollution protesters freed as state bows to public outcry
Shifang government releases majority of demonstrators and cancels copper
plant project after thousands took to streets
By Reuters in Shifang

A Chinese city has released 21 people who were detained after a clash
between police and residents protesting against a metals plant
<http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/jul/03/chinese-cancels-copper-plant-p
rotests> they feared would poison them, city officials said on Wednesday.

Thousands of people in the south-west city of Shifang took to the streets
over the past three days to protest
<http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/protest> against the government's plans
to allow the building of a copper alloy plant, the latest unrest spurred
by environmental concerns in the world's second-largest economy.

The Shifang government said police had "forcibly taken away 27 suspected
criminals" on Monday and Tuesday for tearing down the door of the
municipal government building, smashing windows and throwing bricks and
stones at police and government workers.

That prompted a massive sit-in on Tuesday night outside a government
office by locals demanding their release.

Six are still in police custody, the city government said in a statement
on its official Sina Weibo microblogging site.

"The remaining 21 people, after receiving criticism and education and
repenting for their mistakes, were released at 11pm on 3 July," the
government said on Wednesday.

The government took the uncommon step on Tuesday night of cancelling the
metals project planned by Shanghai-listed Sichuan Hongda
<http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/jul/03/chinese-cancels-copper-plant-p
rotests>. The city initially had said it would only suspend the project.

The latest protest underscores how environmental worries have stoked calls
for expanded rights for citizens and greater consultation in the tightly
controlled one-party state. They follow similar demonstrations against
projects in the cities of Dalian in the north-east and Haimen in southern
Guangdong province in the past year.

Despite the dual concessions, some Chinese called for the punishment of
officials responsible for the violent crackdown. An 18-year-old resident
told Reuters by telephone on Tuesday the police had beaten protesters the
previous night.

"What are we going to do about the bastards who used violence on innocent
people?" said a microblog comment.

Another wrote: "You have beaten up a bunch of innocent people. Don't these
leaders need to be criminally detained too? Release them!"

Photos of Tuesday night's sit-in protest published on microblogs showed a
large crowd sitting down under street lamps, in what one microblogger
described as "a sea of people", demanding the release of those detained.

The protests turned violent on Monday when tens of thousands of residents
stormed the city government headquarters, smashing police cars and
clashing with anti-riot police, who fired tear gas on protesters.

The outpouring of public anger is emblematic of the rising discontent
facing Chinese leaders, who are obsessed with maintaining stability and
struggling to balance growth with rising public anger over environmental
threats.

The leadership has vowed to clean up China's skies and waterways, and
increasingly tried to appear responsive to complaints about pollution. But
environmental disputes pit citizens against local officials whose aim is
to lure fresh investment and revenue into their areas.

"The best of you emigrate, the worst of you are shot," China's most famous
blogger, Han Han, wrote on his blog, addressing Shifang officials. "But
none of you actually live in the pollution. Only ordinary people live
there."

"Shifang" remained the most searched term on China's Twitter-like
microblogs on Wednesday. Chinese authorities, who are usually quick to
suppress dissent from spreading, did not block searches related to the
protests.

"It is the 4th of July ­ 236 years ago, America achieved independence and
236 years later, the Shifang people are fighting for their own rights and
confronting the government," a microblogger wrote. "The government has
repeatedly squandered the people's patience. It is time for us to be
independent."