10,000 protest in Chinese city over planned coal-fired power plant
Big demonstration staged against energy project in northeastern Guangdong, home to reservoir that supplies water to Hong Kong
Around 10,000 residents of Heyuan in northeastern Guangdong took to the streets on Sunday to protest against a new coal-fired power plant, according to demonstrators.
Minor scuffles broke out between the demonstrators and members of the mainland's special police but there were no reports of injuries.
The demonstration began with thousands of people staging a peaceful sit-in outside city government offices at about 8am. Many wore surgical masks and stickers denouncing the plant.
Police dispersed the crowd at around 10am, sending the protesters into the streets, where the numbers quickly swelled to around 10,000 before noon.
The crowd marched through the downtown area, chanting "Give me back my blue sky" and "Go away power plant". Some protesters held small signs that read: "Stop feeding people with smog".
"This is not just a small fraction of people with an ulterior motive but a concrete outpouring of public opinion from the entire Heyuan public. From babies to the elderly, everyone is appealing to our government to stop polluting our sky," a woman protester said, refusing to be named.
Xinhua carried a report on the demonstration and put the number of participants in the thousands. But photos of the gathering suggested the crowd could be much bigger.
