In a sign that the Olympics feel-good factor has already begun to evaporate, protesters took to the streets of Beijing on Saturday in an escalating campaign against the city’s biggest dump site, which they claimed was polluting the air with a foul stench and dangerous dioxins.
Wearing surgical masks and carrying umbrellas, the mostly young, middle-class campaigners blocked roads, chanted anti-pollution slogans and refused to allow garbage trucks to pass as dozens of police filmed them and appealed for calm.
Residents of the affluent Changying District of east Beijing have complained for more than three years about the nearby Gaoantun landfill and waste incineration facility.
Every day, 3,700 tonnes of household refuse are buried in the 40-hectare landfill. In addition, the plant burns 40 tonnes of medical waste, raising fears among locals that the air is being polluted by odorless carcinogenic dioxins. This is denied by the plant’s owners.
Residents have petitioned the authorities and filed a lawsuit in the courts. Dissatisfied with the lack of progress, they are using the Internet, text messages and demonstrations to be heard.
Zhen Qianling, a chemist among the crowd, said the stink from the plant on hot days made him feel sick and sent his heart racing.
“We want to block the traffic so the government will hear our voice. If we just sit back and do nothing, the government will also do nothing,” Zhen said.
Like many, this was the first protest he had joined. The demonstrators were young urban professionals — designers, Internet workers and translators. Other protestors were from the “New Sky Universe” and “Berlin Symphony” tower blocks. Property costs about 14,000 yuan (US$2,045) a square meter, well above the Beijing average. The residents thought they were buying into one of the city’s most salubrious neighborhoods, but on hot summer days, when the wind is in the wrong direction, their homes are filled with the stench from the dump.
“If I had known, I would never have bought a home here,” says Helen Liu, who moved into her 500,000 yuan house in April.
In the run-up to the Olympics, police detained several prominent dissidents and put others under close surveillance. Three “protest parks” were established, but of the 77 people who applied to use them, none succeeded. Human rights groups say several applicants were sent back to their home provinces or put in “re-education through labor” camps. Foreigners who staged Free Tibet demonstrations were deported.
The residents of Chanying said they did not fear a police backlash because China was becoming more open and the authorities’ concerns about losing face during the Games have diminished.
During the demonstration and after police warned the protesters they were breaking the law, they became almost comically polite. They walked slowly back and forth for more than an hour across a pedestrian crossing — but only on the green light — chanting, “We don’t want stinking air.”
Managers at the site said emissions met environment bureau standards, but officials acknowledged the smell was a problem.
“We pay a lot of attention to the residents’ concerns,” Guo Tuanhui said. “On hot days, the buried garbage gives off a bad odor. But we are doing what we can.”
STEPPING UP: Diminished US polar science presence mean opportunities for the UK and other countries, although China or Russia might also fill that gap, a researcher said The UK’s flagship polar research vessel is to head to Antarctica next week to help advance dozens of climate change-linked science projects, as Western nations spearhead studies there while the US withdraws. The RRS Sir David Attenborough, a state-of-the-art ship named after the renowned British naturalist, would aid research on everything from “hunting underwater tsunamis” to tracking glacier melt and whale populations. Operated by the British Antarctic Survey (BAS), the country’s polar research institute, the 15,000-tonne icebreaker — boasting a helipad, and various laboratories and gadgetry — is pivotal to the UK’s efforts to assess climate change’s impact there. “The saying goes
Floods on Sunday trapped people in vehicles and homes in Spain as torrential rain drenched the northeastern Catalonia region, a day after downpours unleashed travel chaos on the Mediterranean island of Ibiza. Local media shared videos of roaring torrents of brown water tearing through streets and submerging vehicles. National weather agency AEMET decreed the highest red alert in the province of Tarragona, warning of 180mm of rain in 12 hours in the Ebro River delta. Catalan fire service spokesman Oriol Corbella told reporters people had been caught by surprise, with people trapped “inside vehicles, in buildings, on ground floors.” Santa Barbara Mayor Josep Lluis
Police in China detained dozens of pastors of one of its largest underground churches over the weekend, a church spokesperson and relatives said, in the biggest crackdown on Christians since 2018. The detentions, which come amid renewed China-US tensions after Beijing dramatically expanded rare earth export controls last week, drew condemnation from US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who on Sunday called for the immediate release of the pastors. Pastor Jin Mingri (金明日), founder of Zion Church, an unofficial “house church” not sanctioned by the Chinese government, was detained at his home in the southern city of Beihai on Friday evening, said
TICKING CLOCK: A path to a budget agreement was still possible, the president’s office said, as a debate on reversing an increase of the pension age carries on French President Emmanuel Macron yesterday was racing to find a new prime minister within a two-day deadline after the resignation of outgoing French Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu tipped the country deeper into political crisis. The presidency late on Wednesday said that Macron would name a new prime minister within 48 hours, indicating that the appointment would come by this evening at the latest. Lecornu told French television in an interview that he expected a new prime minister to be named — rather than early legislative elections or Macron’s resignation — to resolve the crisis. The developments were the latest twists in three tumultuous
RSS