SHANGHAI—Police in China’s financial hub Shanghai took away at least three busloads of environmental protesters outside the municipal government Saturday, preventing the latest rally that started with a rumor that a petrochemical plant could move into the area.
Concerned with public health but shut out of decision-making, more affluent Chinese are increasingly taking to the streets to oppose potentially hazardous projects such as petrochemical plants. Authorities in turn have suppressed the assemblies that have in the past turned violent and weakened the authority of local governments.
In the latest case, thousands of residents in the Shanghai suburban district of Jinshan have been protesting outside the district government — about 70 kilometers (43.5 miles) from downtown Shanghai — during the past week following the rumor about a petrochemical plant moving into their neighborhood. Shanghai authorities have dismissed it as untrue.
