U.S. Water News Online
BEIJING -- Police clashed with thousands of villagers who protested after a brewery polluted local water supplies, a human rights groups said. It said seven protesters were detained and 20 injured.
The paramilitary People's Armed Police moved in to break up the protest in Yuanshi, a town in the southwestern province of Sichuan, according to the Hong Kong-based Information Center for Human Rights and Democracy.
Villagers protested after China Resources (Shifang) Breweries Co. dumped waste water, contaminating supplies used for drinking and farm irrigation, the center said. It cited unidentified sources.
Seven people were detained and 20 injured in Yuanshi, on the outskirts of the city of Shifang, the report said.
Employees who answered the phone at the Yuanshi and Shifang police headquarters and Shifang city hall refused to give any information. Calls to the brewery were not answered.
The Information Center is run by Frank Lu, a veteran political activist who has for many years been a reliable source of information on protests and political activities in China.
The incident came amid a string of protests in areas throughout China over pollution of farmland and water supplies by factories, chemical plants and other industrial projects.
In June, authorities in the southeastern city of Xiamen suspended plans to build a petrochemical plant after residents used the Internet and mobile phones to circulate complaints about possible pollution and health dangers.
The brewery in Yuanshi is owned by state-run China Resources Enterprises Ltd., which has shares traded in Hong Kong, according to the Information Center.
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