A protest over the construction of a waste disposal plant adjacent to a water reservoir led residents of Yantou village to protest en masse on Nov. 4, ending in the arrest and injury of some of them.
A sit-in protest turned ugly when the villagers, requesting a meeting with the mayor, were attacked by riot police.
Villagers, angry that plans for construction of the waste disposal plant were not discussed with them, and fearful of pollution, descended on county administration buildings. Previous testing had already determined that villagers suffered from high lead content in their blood, blamed on near by industry, and the villagers accused the county of inaction.
“Residents from several of the nearby villages all oppose this project, because the waste disposal plant will be located merely 100 meter away from our water supply source,” a resident explained.
“About 600 people from our village stated sit-in in front of the government building, demanding to see the county mayor. Nobody came out to meet with us. At noon, we were hungry and there were elderly and little ones among us, so we cooked in front of the government as a protest. The county officials sent more than 500 riot police, who surrounded and attacked us,” the villager told Epoch Times.
He said the riot police selectively attacked young people, with over 10 police beating up one man. “Three men had head injuries and were bleeding all over; one man’s arm was fractured. Anybody who tried to take pictures with a cell phone had the phone snatched away. The police arrested more than 20 young men. Some of them were migrant workers who came back to the village specifically for this protest.”
He went on to explain, “Four villagers were badly injured, and many more had minor injuries. Police took them to the hospital, and now the hospital won’t allow any visitors. They have about six policemen on guard there.”
Angry that they did not learn about the proposed plant until local news reported it on television, the villagers protested, concerned about health problems for coming generations. They said that the local officials lied, saying that the plant had the approval of the public. “Over 90% of the villagers oppose this project,” the resident said.
A local radio station, reported the 73 acre project was a key project for the county, and had passed the initial approval, site selection, environmental evaluation stages.
Other residents had questions they wanted answers for. Why was it approved without local people’s consent, they asked. When 70 percent of the villagers didn’t know about it, why did county organizations say the project had obtained 70 percent of villagers’ approval?
