Pollution | Sichuan residents demand to know source of foul smell

Chinese women wear masks to protect themselves against the pollution in Beijing

Hundreds of Chinese gathered in the streets of a town in the southwestern province of Sichuan on Tuesday night, demanding to know what caused a bad smell in the air and asking authorities to shut down polluting factories.
Protests of pollution have been rising in China, where members of the public are increasingly wary about pollution and vocal about their health concern.
The government of Weiyuan county said Tuesday that the foul smell was caused by a leak of liquid coolant at a porcelain factory and that authorities were investigating.
But residents said they also are worried about the chemical plants in the town and hoped those plants could be moved out of densely populated neighborhoods.
“Air pollution is quite troublesome because everyone has to breathe,” said a resident who only gave his family name of Zhao.
He said thousands of people had taken to the street since the weekend, when a pungent air gripped the city.
Another resident who gave her family name of Wen said the offending plant had been discharging bad air every day. “We hope the plant could be shuttered because it is harmful to our health,” Wen said.
In a hotel near the demonstration site, a woman who gave her family name of Luo said about 1,000 protesters gathered near a bus station on Monday with banners and that more — including students in a nearby middle school and their parents — showed up on Tuesday.
“People went to the local government to ask why, but they got no answer,” Luo said.
A government statement on Tuesday said the smell was dissipating and that no harmful substances such as benzene, ethyl-benzene and xylenes were found in the discharged water of the porcelain plant, although local residents said they could still smell the foul air, which they described as stinky and pungent and even causing skin irritation.
The Weiyuan government said it had shuttered the factory’s operations and was investigating.
The local police department said it had called in for interrogations seven people who had spread rumor, smashed public property and used violence to thwart law enforcement efforts.
Photos circulating online show clashes between demonstrators and riot police. In some photos, a police car was seen turned on its side. AP