[Plaro]

Chinese authorities crack down on petrochemical plant protesters
02/04/2014
France 24

The Chinese authorities have clamped down on all information related to a protest movement against a petrochemical plant in Maoming, southern China. On Sunday, a march led to clashes with the police.

The industrial city of Maoming, in Guangdong province, is already home to several refineries belonging to Sinopec, a public company. The announcement of a forthcoming Sinopec factory that would produce paraxylene (PX), a petroleum-based chemical product, has caused a great deal of concern from local residents. They fear the consequences that a new plant might have on their health and the environment.

Most amateur photos showing the protest against the project have been deleted from the microblogging social network Sina Weibo while searches for "Maoming" have also been blocked on the site. These photos, which could still be shared thanks to instant messaging services, show protesters brandishing signs against the project and the subsequent violent clashes with the police.

In a series of online announcements Monday, the local government called the protest "a serious violation of the law that severely hurts the social order" while denying rumours on the Internet that several people died during the clashes. The city of Maoming and the local branch of Sinopec have not responded to FRANCE 24's inquiries.

According to the US Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, paraxylene can cause headaches, vertigo, and nausea when inhaled. While certain products used in production (such as benzene) can cause cancer, testing on animals has proven inconclusive on whether paraxylene truly increases cancer risk for humans.

In June 2013, an article in the official journal "The People's Daily" claimed that paraxylene, used in particular to produce plastic bottles, was "no more carcinogenic than coffee". This editorial was published following a wave of protests against a paraxylene factory in Kunming, in southwestern China. Over the last few years, several similar projects across China have been met with fierce opposition from local residents.

"Our only wish is to live in a clean environment with blue skies overhead"

Our Observer, a resident of Maoming who wishes to remain anonymous, hopes that the anti-PX movement in her city will lead to the same result as that in the northeastern city of Dalian in 2011, where protests caused local authorities to move a planned petrochemical plant elsewhere.


Because of the presence of several ethylene and petroleum refineries in our city, the air is already very polluted. Many residents suffer from rhinitis [irritation and inflammation of the nasal mucus membranes]. So how can we live with this additional factory, which is planned for construction only a few dozen kilometres from the city's downtown?

On Sunday, many people went to protest peacefully against this new petrochemical plant, but the gathering was suddenly attacked by military police. They hit anything that moved, and I saw many protesters with bloody faces. Some stayed in the street all night. They burned police vehicles, tore down barricades and destroyed traffic lights. I heard there were deaths but we don't know what really happened.

On Monday, the families of the injured organised a new protest. These people did not deserve to be beaten, and I am very disappointed by the authorities' reaction. They sent additional back-up police on Monday. We do not want our protests to turn violent; we only wish to live in a clean environment with blue skies overhead. I hope that the local government will listen to us and that it will decide against this project, for the good of the people of Maoming.

[benpenguin]

It seems some of the protesters has taken the opportunity to rob shops and burn stuff. In any case, the PX project has been stopped as per China Daily.

As for police brutality, I wouldn't be surprised if it actually happened - but I hold my usual doubts to Western reporting since they are always giving us the North Korea treatment with 100x exaggeration.

[Plaro]

Do you live in China? I'm just wondering, how much do Chinese people have a say in industrial planning or their work condition and wages? Can they strike in general or protest. This is just curiosity.

As I can say from experience in the west, most working class people have little say. Especially in corporate businesses like Walmart and US representative of consumerism like McDonald's.

[benpenguin]

Yes I do live in China, Maoming is actually a few hours away from my part of town. Maybe I will ask my friends for more confirmation to the story.
Chinese workers actually do strike and protest a lot and get some degree of media attention. But reporting is very selective - the media underreport lots of them and applies plenty not-so-subtle opinions to others, so it's hard to tell the real nature of it. (Of cause they won't tell you if the police decided to beat up everyone.)

Chinese workers have little say in the planning process as well, naturally - it's all done up top and you won't know until the government releases their plans. Protesting and rioting is sometimes the only way for normal folks to influence these decisions.

Fortunately, media in Southern China is comparitively more liberal than our Northern counterparts, they occasionally stand on protesters' side . So in fact, these protests sometimes do achieve their goals.

In China, mob justice could sometimes be a pretty strong political force.

[Eamin]

Disregarding politics for a while, I would just say those protesters didn't study high school chemistry well. I'm totally for government this time.

[Soulflytribe]

Maybe I'm wrong, but those "protect the environment protests" we have been seeing so often in China look so goddamn fake to me.

They are always the same: young people with smart clothes fighting against, say, "global warming" or to "save the trees" or other bullshit alike that people in Western countries do care, but 99% of the Chinese people just couldn't care less! Maybe it's not always the case, but most of the times the police and protesters are always so well-behaved and peaceful that they are not capable of disheveling one strand of hair from each other.

In my view, those protests are 100% organized by the Chinese Government for propaganda purposes, the Chinese Government wants to sell a modern image for the Western World, that their protests are not much different from what you have in advanced democratic countries.
Notice how pro-democracy protests just never happen, we are only allowed to hear about these "green protests". Falun gong members being disemboweled alive by official authorities? Protests because dissidents like Yu Jie and Liu Xiaobo are being tortured? "No, no, no... We don't have that here, our people's main concern is if the panda bears will survive another 50 years."

Again, maybe I'm wrong, but sentences like "our only wish is to live in a clean environment with blue skies overhead" just sound ridiculous to me when I know they are coming from a country like China.

[benpenguin]

^Those guys protest because they are told that the PV stuff is harmful to their health, and the protest erupted into a riot because those young people have a lot of excess energy, and took the liberty to some looting and burning. The police went in and "maintained order", and PV project is put to a halt. That IS the official story on local newspapers - minus the part where police beat the crap out of rioters and protesters - Which is in no way related to this rubbish you posted above.

The story is being spin by Western journalists in a way where the incident is painted as brutal authority vs innocent peace lovers, and is in no way written by the Chinese governments themselves. If it is up to our dear propaganda department they would either not report or blame foreign intervention (Which is more often than not, true)

You are correct we don't have your typical garden variety tree huggers but when it comes to one's hometown getting trashed with industrial poison, you can bet people will riot.

[AFAIK]

Maybe I'm wrong, but those "protect the environment protests" we have been seeing so often in China look so goddamn fake to me.

Most environmental protests are conducted by NIMBYs who fear that a factory will be harmful to their health or pollute the local environment. Professional organisations like Greenpeace are heavily restricted and you can be sure that Beijing doesn't sanction let alone encourage these protests.