Riots broke out over the weekend on Dongshan island off Fujian as thousands of fishermen protested against government plans to relocate a controversial chemical plant from the coastal city of Xiamen to the area.
The plant - with a designed capacity to produce 800,000 tonnes a year of the chemical p-Xylene - was the focus of two days of mass protests in Xiamen last June.
The Xiamen protests, which were largely peaceful, were widely described in news media as the mainland's largest middle-class public rally in recent years.
According to media reports, Fujian provincial authorities, bowing to pressure from opponents, agreed to move the project, although no official announcement about it was made. It was widely reported that the plant would be built on Gulei peninsula near Zhangzhou . Gulei is 13km from Dongshan.
'How can a project rejected by Xiamen people be moved to our place?' a protester said angrily. 'Who will buy our fish if they are contaminated by toxic chemicals?'
Dongshan is famous for the quality seafood that it sells to Hong Kong and Taiwanese fishermen and consumers.
The chemical p-Xylene, used in paints, solvents and polyesters, can cause respiratory problems and liver and kidney damage.
