Ten thousand citizens in the Chinese city of Heyuan, population 2.9 million, took to the streets earlier this month to protest construction of a new ¥8 billion (US$1.3 billion) coal plant.
“The demonstration began with thousands of people staging a peaceful sit-in outside city government offices at about 8 AM. Many wore surgical masks and stickers denouncing the plant,” the South China Morning Post reported. “Police dispersed the crowd at around 10 AM, sending the protesters into the streets, where the numbers quickly swelled to around 10,000 before noon.”
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“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,” said one protester. “From babies to the elderly, everyone is appealing to our government to stop polluting our sky.”
Slogans and signs at the rally included: “Give me back my blue sky. Go away power plant. Stop feeding people with smog.” (h/t to CleanTechnica for pointing us to this story)
