Officials suspended over Hunan poison villages

A city in Hunan has suspended the official in charge of environmental protection and his deputy following a protest last week by villagers that drew attention to widespread poisoning from a heavy-metals processing plant.

A news portal operated by the provincial government reported that the Liuyang city administration had suspended Chen Wenbo and his deputy last night, hours after a high-level official delegation met representatives of the villagers.

The delegation was the most senior to visit the villages, in Zhentou township, since people there began dying from cadmium and indium poisoning three months ago.

Village representatives came away from the meeting unhappy. They said the officials had not offered concrete solutions for their plight.

Families have been told they cannot farm their land for 60 years, food and water is being trucked in for 4,000 villagers and officials say more than 500 have been poisoned.

The delegation comprised Chen Runer, Communist Party chief of the provincial capital, Changsha , which administers Liuyang, the Liuyang party chief, Yi Jialiang, and its mayor, Liang Zhong. They met representatives from three of the most seriously affected villages, Gankou, Puhua and Shuangqiao, at the Zhentou government office. Hundreds of villagers waited anxiously outside.

They appeared calm, three days after villagers staged a protest for free medical checks and treatment - which led to six of them being detained. This prompted 1,000 to besiege the government office and a police station the next day.