Residents in one Chinese village were so fed up with pollution from a local aluminium plant that they took their frustrations to the street. According to media reports, more than 1,000 people from Zhuang village in Jingxi County, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, broke into the Xinfa plant of aluminum manufacturer Shandong Xinfa Aluminum & Power Group, one of the three largest producers in Jingxi, smashed equipment and, later, blocked roads, a railway line and surrounded the county’s government headquarters. Reports say the villagers are protesting against the aluminium plant’s release of sewage that has poisoned drinking water in dozens of villages. “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 to Asianews.it. "Villagers have been very unhappy for a long time about the pollution caused by the plant," China Daily quoted local government official named Qin Weifeng as saying. The protests come after, according to the New York Times, newly released figures show a jump in industrial accidents and an epidemic of pollution in waterways across the country. One report said the number of accidents fouling the air and water doubled during the first half of 2010—with an average of 10 each month. The report also said that more than a quarter of the country’s water resources were too polluted to be used for drinking water. And, unsurprisingly, along with increased pollution is a rise in pollution-related protests. According to Jamie Choi, a manager with Greenpeace China in Beijing, there were 50,000 pollution-related protests in 2005, the last year the government provided statistics. She says that the actual number now "probably is a lot higher." Environmental concerns are clearly on the rise in the country, with a survey last fall by the Pew Global Attitudes Project reporting around 80% of Chinese felt that protecting the environment should be a priority. Further Reading: |
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