A crowd of angry Shanghai residents took to the streets yesterday to complain about noise pollution from the increasingly busy Hongqiao International Airport.
Chanting slogans and brandishing laminated photographs of their homes, planes landing at the airport and even portraits of Mao Zedong , the 200-strong demonstration marched on the municipal government in an attempt to meet the city's top brass.
'We have been complaining to our local government for months, but they refuse to listen,' said one retiree, showing copies of letters he had sent to various bodies. 'We want to meet party secretary Yu Zhengsheng or mayor Han Zheng. That's all we're asking for: a chance to be heard.'
Police broke up the unauthorised gathering just before 1pm, bussing most protesters back to their homes - all in two residential complexes next to the airport.
Witnesses said at least two protesters had been detained, and some accused police officers of using excessive force.
'We were demonstrating peacefully but the police just started hitting people,' said one protester who, like others involved in the incident, asked not to be named. 'They even dragged an 80-year-old woman onto a bus, pulling her by her hands and feet. A young student was trying to film the scuffle, but the police arrested him.'
The residents are fighting for compensation and relocation from their homes - in Maosheng Flower Garden and Shashen New Village, two medium-sized residential complexes right at the end of the airport's runway - because of increased air traffic since the opening of a new terminal and second runway in March.