Qidong remains on high alert following violent weekend protests

Protesters in Qidong city on Saturday
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Tensions in Qidong, Jiangsu province, remain high following Saturday's mass demonstration, despite the local government promising to cancel plans of building a waste pipeline to the East China Sea.

Thousands of locals surrounded Qidong government offices on Saturday morning as protestors clashed with police, leading to scores of injuries and even rumors of at least two deaths. Hundreds of armed police from Nantong, which administers Qidong, were despatched to the area in an effort to suppress the growing violence and looting of government offices.

The number of demonstrators varied widely from source to source. Chinese netizens claimed there were as many as 100,000 protestors, while France's AFP reported around 50,000 participants. Official Chinese media said roughly 10,000 people took part.

The Qidong government eventually relented and promised to abandon its plans of building a 100 km pipeline from a city factory run by Japan's Oji Paper Co that would have pumped up to 150,000 tons of waste per day to China's east coast.

On Sunday, despite reports that the city has returned to normal, there were still large numbers of armed police standing guard near government office buildings, according to Hong Kong's Ming Pao newspaper. Security in the area remains tight: public security officials have reportedly blocked off roads and only authorized personnel were allowed to enter the restricted zone.

Mobile phone and internet access, which were allegedly intentionally disrupted during the demonstrations, remain unstable, the paper added. There have also been reports that local officials have been calling homes to recommend that people stay home for the day.

According to Boxun, an anonymously sourced Chinese-language citizen journalism site, groups of protestors remain camped out at a local public square and were intent on continuing protests until Monday.

The ongoing discontent supposedly stems from reports from Japanese media that waste from Oji's paper factory has been dumped directly into the Yangtze river since last year, reports our Chinese-language sister paper China Times. The waste travels downstream into dams supplying water to Shanghai, an arrangement the government has deliberately hidden from locals, the paper added.

Microblog posts related that the allegations have reportedly been censored by the government.

Meanwhile, Oji has recommenced operations but says it is currently unsure of how to manage its waste without the now-canceled pipeline, reports Japan's Asahi Shimbun. According to the paper, the construction of the waste pipe was a promise the Nantong government made to Oji when inviting foreign investment in China.