Near Hangzhou no less with West Lake as back drop
Chinese like to say it is a blessing from above to be
Born in Suzhou, eat in Guangzhou, die in Lanzhou
And live oops I mean riot in Hangzhou ... ... ...
Bloodshed as Chinese environmental protest sparks riot
At least 39 people are injured during clashes between police and thousands of demonstrators who are opposed to the construction of a waste incinerator project in east China
Police vehicles were torched and running battles between security forces and protesters left at least 39 people injured after an environmental protest in east China escalated into a full-blown riot.
The clashes broke out on Saturday in Zhongtai, a town 20 miles from Hangzhou, a picturesque tourist city that is also capital of the wealthy eastern province of Zhejiang.
For around two weeks residents of Zhongtai have been staging regular protests against plans to build what would reputedly become Asia's biggest waste incinerator project in a nearby abandoned quarry.
China's fast growing cities produce around 160 million tons of domestic waste each year, according to domestic reports, and the country is planning around 300 such incinerators within the next three years as part of a "Great Leap Forward in garbage incineration".
However, there have been repeated protests against such projects with residents fearing they will bring pollution and disease.
Saturday's protest began at around 9am, according to the Beijing News. At least 5,000 demonstrators blocked roads and motorways and "local police responded with force," said China Radio International, a government-run news outlet.
During initial clashes one protester was reportedly injured and taken to hospital. That appears to have sparked hours of violent confrontations that stretched into Saturday night. Footage aired on Chinese television showed men using their fists to pound one police officer and other security forces fleeing angry crowds who were pelting them with bottles.
"Why didn't the police just shoot those mobs who overturned police cars and attacked the police?" Laola Chenxiang, a propaganda official from Zhejiang province, wrote on her official Weibo social media account.
"More than 30 cars were overturned. The protesters set two police cars on fire and smashed another four," according to Xinhua, China's official news agency.
At least 39 people, including 29 police officers, were injured, Xinhua added. One protester and one police officer were "severely injured".
However, photographs that were quickly deleted from the internet by Chinese censors suggested the number of injured protesters was likely to have been higher.
Men and women could be seen clutching bleeding head wounds in some images while one photograph showed an elderly woman being carried away. Police in black "SWAT" uniforms were shown forcing people onto the concrete and handcuffing them. It was not immediately possible to very all of the photographs.
One demonstrator told The Telegraph they believed authorities had attempted to disrupt the area's telecommunications in order to prevent the protesters' accounts of the clashes becoming known.
On Sunday police had reportedly closed the road to Zhongtai as they began hunting for a list of 15 suspects, whose photographs were published on a "Wanted"-style poster.
Those who had "blocked traffic, damaged public or private property, attacked and injured people or fabricated and spread rumours" should surrender immediately, a court official was quoted as saying by The Beijing News.
Still, in what appeared to be a sign of possible victory for the protesters, a government statement accused them of "disrupting the work and lives of local people" but agreed the project would not proceed without "support of the people".
China witnesses tens of thousands of so-called "mass incidents" each year, many now linked to environmental issues. In March, Li Keqiang, the prime minister, vowed to "declare war" on pollution and said his country would turn its back on "inefficient and blind development".
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/wor...hinese-environmental-protest-sparks-riot.html
