China eco-activists, cops clash

THOUSANDS of people demonstrating against alleged pollution from a paper factory in east China clashed with police Saturday, the latest in a series of environmental protests.

The protestors overturned two cars and invaded the local government offices in the coastal city of Qidong, near Shanghai, an AFP photographer said.

Demonstrators seized bottles of liquor and wine from the offices along with cartons of cigarettes, items which Chinese officials frequently receive as bribes.

A photograph posted on Sina Weibo, the main Chinese microblogging service, showed some of the items displayed outside the government building.

Thousands of people had gathered in a square in front of the offices and in adjacent streets Saturday morning, with armed police arriving at the scene at 9 a.m.

Following the clashes, the local police said in their microblog that the pipeline from the paper mill, which belongs to Japanese company Oji Paper, would be “permanently closed” and called on the demonstrators to go home.

Oji Paper however denied that its plant was causing pol- lution and said closing the 110km. pipeline would not affect operations at the plant, located in Nantong, Jiji Press news agency reported.

“We don’t release ‘ polluted water’ as we are currently releasing water after purification that meets the local environmental standards,” Jiji quoted a company public relations official as saying.