Pollution : émeute à 汕頭海门 Shantou Haimen (广东 Guangdong) – 21 décembre 2011

Protest against power plant in S.China escalates

chicagotribune.com

Reuters

December 22, 2011

By Sui-Lee Wee

HAIMEN, China, Dec 22 (Reuters) – Protests in a small town in China appear to have escalated with residents smashing cars and hurling bricks even though officials sought to calm tempers by suspending a plan to build a power plant.

Angry crowds smashed and overturned police cars and riot police fired teargas in Haimen town in Shantou city on Wednesday, the second day of the unrest, Hong Kong newspapers reported.

The unrest escalated as a 10-day standoff between villagers and officials over a land dispute in the same province was resolved, and as China’s domestic security chief told officials to focus on stability before the ruling Communist Party’s leadership transition next year.

Residents of Haimen, furious with plans to build a coal-fired power plant, took to the streets on Tuesday, surrounding a government building and blocking an expressway.

Officials agreed to suspend the project this week, but residents refused to back down, demanding the plan be scrapped.

Outside a large and closed petrol station near a highway into Haimen, about 100 men on motorbikes watched a wall of riot police armed with batons and shields, blocking the highway. Read more…