China - 51,000 Pollution-Related "Incidents" (Riots, Etc.) In 2005 Alone

[hatrack]

BEIJING - China's environment chief has made a rare official admission that serious water and air pollution is fuelling social tensions, protests and riots.

"The environment has become a focal issue that triggers social contradictions," Thursday's edition of the Beijing News quoted Zhou Shengxian, head of the State Environmental Protection Administration (SEPA), as saying. Mass incidents" -- protests and riots in the ruling Communist Party's jargon -- over environmental woes have grown at an annual rate of 29 percent in recent years, he said.

After two decades of breakneck economic growth, China has 20 of the world's 30 most polluted cities, the World Bank says. An estimated 300 million nationwide have no access to clean water. Zhou was appointed in December after his predecessor was forced to resign over his handling of a toxic spill that poisoned the Songhua River, a source of drinking water for millions. The degradation of the environment has increasingly galvanised citizens across the country into violent actions because of the slim chance of redress through legal channels.

Zhou did not give an exact number for the protests, but said there were 51,000 pollution "disputes" last year alone. Thousand of villagers rioted in Zhejiang province last April, forcing the closure of 13 polluting chemical plants. About 50 policemen were injured and four protesters were later jailed.

EDIT

http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/36075/story.htm