Protesters have prevented the launching of a waste incineration power plant in the eastern Chinese province of Zhejiang, citing land and environment problems.
"There were a lot of people there," said one woman who runs a hotel in Huangtutang, a suburb of Wuxi city, as protesters camped out at the power plant's gates this week. "I think there are still people there."
"They have put up tents. It all happened in the past couple of days," the woman said.
According to forum posts circulating on the Chinese Internet, the land for the power plant was sold off by former township Communist Party secretary Tang Hongxing and fellow officials without the knowledge of local people "to make a buck."
Local people say the incineration process will spread carcinogenic dioxins around a densely populated area, and have blockaded the gates to prevent garbage trucks from entering the compound, said one post on the popular Tianya forum, signed by author dlylieren.
"The situation now is that they have finished work on the plant, and they are on the verge of firing it up," the post said.
"Right now, we elderly folk have already set up tents, and are living at the entrance of the incinerator plant," said the post.
"If the garbage trucks want to go in, then they'll have to drive over our corpses."
Fossil fuel alternative
Waste incinerator power plants are often billed by local officials as a clean alternative to fossil fuels, which also lessen China's growing mountain of garbage for disposal.
In November 2009, homeowners in Guangdong protested against a similar plant planned by Guangzhou Environmental Investment, a company with alleged links to top-ranking provincial officials.
Incinerators can earn hefty government subsidies for cash-strapped local governments worth millions of dollars a year.
Another Huangtutang resident said local people had been given no formal warning of the plans to build the power plant.
"The township government told us that we had signed our consent to the project, but we never signed anything," she said.
A third resident surnamed Du said residents were concerned at the lack of mechanism for sorting trash in Wuxi, and that carcinogenic smoke would still be produced in spite of official assurances.
"If they haven't responded to our demands, and they really are going ahead with it, then we will go and demonstrate at the gates," Du said.
"We will prevent the trucks full of garbage from getting into the plant."
Vested interests
Activists say that China has an exemplary set of environmental protection legislation, but that environmental officials lack the power to impose it on powerful vested interests at local level.
Wuxi-based environmentalist Wu Lihong said he was skeptical the government could guarantee dioxin-free waste fumes from the new plant.
"They won't be able to do it," Wu said. "This is a corrupt phenomenon."
Wu said there were too many items in Wuxi garbage that were dangerous to burn.
"Such types of trash, like medical waste and dangerous goods have to be subjected to a sorting process which is very complicated," he said.
Wu said a similar plant in Wuxi's Changsanjiao district had already been constructed, and failed to live up to safety restrictions imposed by the city's construction department.
"The residents of Changsanjiao found design plans and expert opinion and they got together a petition against the plant, but it was of no use," Wu said.
Reported by Ding Xiao for RFA's Mandarin service and by Dai Weisen for the Cantonese service. Translated and written in English by Luisetta Mudie.