TibetanReview
(Jul17, 2010) Thousands of people threw rocks at police and blocked roads in Jingxi county of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region near the border with Vietnam in southern China on Jul 13 in protest at pollution from a plant owned by one of the country's largest private aluminium producers, reported China’s official China Daily newspaper and AsiaNews.it Jul 15.
"Almost all the residents in Lingwan village were involved in blocking the road to Jingxi county on Tuesday (Jul 13) afternoon, and some villagers threw stones at police who had been sent by the Jingxi government," the China Daily report cited a government statement as saying. "One official hit by stones was sent to the hospital, but no other injuries were reported," the newspaper added.
However, AsiaNew.it said more than 100 people were injured and at least 10 vehicles, including a police car and an armoured vehicle, were set on fire by angry villagers in the protest. It added that more protesters were injured on Jul 14 morning as the protest continued.
The AsiaNews.it report said the residents blocked roads and a railway line and surrounded the county government's headquarters, where they faced off about a thousand riot police.
“The road leading to the County government building, which is several kilometres long, was packed with villagers holding slogans, and armed policemen fired into the air to warn the furious protesters," it quoted Huang An, a Zhuang from Lingwan village, as saying.
It said that earlier, on Jul 11, several thousand angry Zhuang burst into the plant, smashing equipment at the Shandong Xinfa Aluminum and Power Group plant, one of the three largest producers in Jingxi.
Villagers have been very unhappy for a long time about the pollution caused by the plant. “The water is red and heavily polluted by untreated industrial sewage discharged from the plant. We don't dare drink water from it," one villager said.
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