BEIJING (Reuters) - Residents living near a faulty sewage works in southeastern China have gone on the rampage, smashing equipment, beating police and kidnapping local officials, a newspaper reported on Tuesday.
Up to 200 people were involved in the unrest in Quanzhou in the coastal province of Fujian, which lies opposite Taiwan, the local Straits News reported.
The problems started in the middle of last month when the sewage works developed a fault, causing a bad odor and seepage, the newspaper said. People gathered at the facility to protest many times, and finally some broke into it.
"A minority of people used the opportunity to stir things up and took the lead in causing an incident, damaging and smashing equipment," it said, citing information from the city government.
"Some unlawful elements surrounded and beat two police at the scene who were maintaining order ... One of them was seriously injured," the report added.
Telephone calls to government offices went unanswered.
A government official was also seriously injured and two others were still being held by residents, the newspaper said.
The Chinese government has become increasingly worried about the environmental and health costs of pollution, and about rising public anger over the problem.
Last month there were protests at factories that were suspected of being the cause of lead poisoning of several hundred children in at least two Chinese provinces.
"Mass incidents" -- or riots and protests -- sparked by environmental problems have been rising at a rate of 30 percent per year, according to China's environmental protection minister, Zhou Shengxian.
(Reporting by Ben Blanchard, Liu Zhen and Sally Huang; Editing by Alex Richardson)
Copyright 2009 Reuters Environmental Online Report
