More than 30 police officers and 38 civilians were injured in southwestern China during a weekend protest by residents who feared that a planned railway would bypass their community, authorities said yesterday.
The protest was the latest in which Chinese citizens have taken to the streets in an attempt to influence government decision-making after feeling excluded from the process.
The county government of Linshui said in a statement that more than 100 protesters charged police and burned vehicles on Saturday, and that 40 people were detained. It said 20 more were detained Sunday when crowds gathered again. It wasn’t immediately clear if the 60 remained detained or were held briefly and released.
Local police and government officials did not answer calls or declined to talk to The Associated Press yesterday.
The demonstrators demanded that the proposed railway linking Chongqing and Dazhou go through their city, saying the nearly 1 million residents of Linshui urgently need their first rail link. They marched over the weekend after hearing reports that it could take another route through the bigger city of Guang’an, which already has railway service.
According to the Financial Times, the demonstrators were particularly incensed by the decision to change the railway route to pass through Guang’an, the birthplace of former paramount leader Deng Xiaoping, considered the architect of modern free-market China.
Residents complained that Guang’an is already served by several rail lines despite having half the population of Linshui. They accused the government of favoring Guang’an for purely sentimental political reasons, according to state media reports.
Mr Deng died in 1997 but there is a long tradition of Beijing building monuments and heaping largesse on remote locations favored by current and former senior Communist party leaders, the FT wrote.
Even global companies are not immune to the allure of investing in the hometowns of party grandees.
Volkswagen owns a large factory in Yangzhou, the hometown of former President Jiang Zemin, in a move that senior Volkswagen executives have privately described as a “gift” to Mr Jiang, who still wields enormous influence behind the scenes despite retiring from his last post in 2004.
Photos and videos posted on social media showed demonstrators filling the streets and holding banners saying the rail link would help the local economy. Residents carried signs saying “We want development, prosperity and a railway”, the FT reported.
The provincial railway construction office said yesterday the route is yet to be finalized and that it would take into account the residents’ wishes.
The state-run Global Times newspaper said in an editorial yesterday that local governments should use an open and fair process in selecting the route.
“Police force can be of some use but it cannot win people’s hearts and minds,” it said. “The solution should lie in how local governments make decisions.”
The editorial warned against making unprincipled concessions under public pressure, and said a well thought-out decision would be the government’s best defense. VM/Agencies
No Comments