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Chinese protesters return to streets after Olympics
Jonathan Watts
London Observer
Sunday, Aug 31, 2008
In a sign that the Olympics feelgood factor has already begun to evaporate, protesters took to the streets of Beijing yesterday in an escalating campaign against the city’s biggest dump site, which they claimed was polluting the air with a foul stench and dangerous dioxins.
Wearing surgical masks and carrying umbrellas, the mostly young, middle-class campaigners blocked roads, chanted anti-pollution slogans and refused to allow rubbish trucks to pass as dozens of police filmed them and appealed for calm.
Residents of the affluent Changying district of east Beijing have complained for more than three years about the nearby Gaoantun landfill and waste incineration facility.
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Every day, 3,700 tonnes of household refuse are buried in the 40-hectare landfill. In addition, the plant burns 40 tonnes of medical waste from hospitals, raising fears among locals that the air is being polluted by odourless carcinogenic dioxins. This is denied by the plant’s owners.
Residents have petitioned the authorities and filed a lawsuit in the courts. Dissatisfied with the lack of progress, they are using the internet, text messages and demonstrations to be heard.
Zhen Qianling, a chemist among the crowd, said the stink from the plant on hot days made him feel sick and sent his heart racing. ‘We want to block the traffic so the government will hear our voice. If we just sit back and do nothing, the government will also do nothing.’ Like many, this was the first protest he had joined. The demonstrators were young urban professionals – designers, internet workers and translators. Other protestors were from the ‘New Sky Universe’ and ‘Berlin Symphony’ tower blocks. Property costs about 14,000 yuan (£1,100) a square metre, well above the Beijing average. The residents thought they were buying into one of the city’s most salubrious neighbourhoods, but on hot summer days, when the wind is in the wrong direction, their homes are filled with the stench from the dump.
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