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Thousands of Chinese Continue Demonstrating against a Proposed Nuclear Waste Plant

According to Hong Kong Oriental Online (http://hk.on.cc/cn/) on August 7 and 8, 2016, thousands of local residents in Lianyungang, Jiangsu Province, took to the streets for two consecutive days in protest of a nuclear waste treatment plant that was intended to be built there. The Public Security Bureau in Lianyungang said on its official blog that assembling without the permission of the local government is illegal. The bureau also pointed out that the project is an established national project and that it had provincial and municipal government approval. It asked the general public to “believe the government and the (Chinese Communist) Party.” 


The government of Lianyungang City held a press conference at 6:00 p.m. on August 7, 2016 and stated, “Currently, the project is still in the stage of preliminary assessment. Potential sites are being compared and a final decision has not been reached. … The relevant authorities will crack down on those small numbers of criminals who have fabricated and spread rumors, and who have disturbed the social order.”
Residents defied police warnings and continued their demonstration. Internet posts exposed that the police dragged and beat the protestors and killed at least one protestor. However, the “Lianyungang Municipal government warned the general public neither to believe nor spread such ‘rumors.’”
Sources: Hong Kong Oriental Online, August 7, 1016 and August 8, 2016
http://hk.on.cc/cn/bkn/cnt/news/20160807/bkncn-20160807002421550-0807_05011_001_cn.html?cn=true&eventid=402883475606439d015669a0a9c137e4&eventsection=cn_news 
http://hk.on.cc/cn/bkn/cnt/news/20160808/bkncn-20160808173504669-0808_05011_001_cn.html?cn=true&eventsection=cn_news&eventid=402883475606439d015669a0a9c137e4