By Russ McSpadden
Following three days of mass protest, overturned police cars, tear gas and violent clashes between protesters and riot police, the city government of Shifang in the province of Sichuan, southwest China, announced last week that it is scrapping plans for a copper alloy plant. This is but one of dozens of industrial projects that have been successfully defeated by large scale protests and riots in China in recent years. As in protests elsewhere in China, enraged activists stormed the city’s government headquarters and staged a successful occupation.
“We have so many people in Shifang. We aren’t afraid of them (the authorities),” an 18-year-old activist boldly stated to Reuters by telephone from Shifang just before the government acquiescence to demands. “The Shifang people will definitely not surrender.” Continue reading
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