79 lines
4.0 KiB
Markdown
79 lines
4.0 KiB
Markdown
The **Ningbo Anti-Refinery Campaign of 2012** was a grassroots
|
||
[environmental campaign](Timeline_of_Environmentalism "wikilink") to
|
||
stop the construction of a [petrochemical](Fossil_Fuels#Oil "wikilink")
|
||
[refinery](Factory "wikilink") in the city of Ningbo, Zhejian,
|
||
[China](China "wikilink") in
|
||
[2012](Timeline_of_Libertarian_Socialism_in_Eastern_Asia "wikilink").
|
||
|
||
## Background
|
||
|
||
Just two weeks before the once-per-decade Communist Party congress to
|
||
announce the party’s new leadership, farmers in the Zhenhai district of
|
||
Zhejiang province expressed their concerns about pollution and the
|
||
increasing number of internal organ diseases and cancer in the area by
|
||
starting a campaign against the proposed expansion of the Zhenhai
|
||
Refining & Chemical petrochemical plant. The plant was affiliated with
|
||
Ningbo Sinopec, a branch of the state-owned Sinopec petroleum company. A
|
||
survey on the number of chemical plants in the area revealed that the
|
||
closest plant was only 1.5 km from a local village although the proper
|
||
distance should have been at least 100 km away.
|
||
|
||
## Events
|
||
|
||
The campaign began on the 22nd of October 2012 when 200 farmers and
|
||
local residents took a sit-in to the streets, blocking roads to a
|
||
government building. They demanded that the state-backed chemical plants
|
||
move out. They carried banners reading “We want to live, we want to
|
||
survive.” Police blocked all major roads in the area to maintain order.
|
||
|
||
No details were found on the protest for the 23rd to the 25th of
|
||
October, but on Friday, 26th of October, the protests turned violent as
|
||
thousands of protesters blocking the streets attacked police cars and
|
||
threw bricks and water bottles at police officers. Police beat
|
||
protesters with batons and used tear gas on them. They also dragged away
|
||
protesters who dared to chant slogans. People expressed their concerns
|
||
about the chemical plant’s production of ethylene and paraxylene (PX), a
|
||
toxic petrochemical used in plastics, paints, and cleaning solvents, by
|
||
wearing surgical masks painted with crossed out “PX” and other slogans.
|
||
By the afternoon the next day, police dispersed protesters gathered in a
|
||
central shopping street. Protesters had been giving out pamphlets
|
||
denouncing the chemical plant expansion. Police used tear gas and
|
||
detained about 100 people who were later released. Although protesters
|
||
had been uploading pictures and news of the protests onto Weibo, a
|
||
Chinese micro-blogging site, the government continued to censor much
|
||
information regarding the issue and events. Some demonstrators also
|
||
helped distribute food and water and pick up trash. Approximately 20,000
|
||
to 30,000 people participated during the peak of the protests. The
|
||
campaigners, and presumably the leaders as well, responded to the
|
||
violence nonviolently by spreading via Weibo (and making viral) an image
|
||
reading "I love Ningbo" and "We don't want violence, but we must have
|
||
good health".
|
||
|
||
On Sunday, the 28th of October, thousands of students and middle class
|
||
residents had gathered in Ningbo’s downtown square, carrying homemade
|
||
banners and wearing surgical masks with skulls and bones and slogans
|
||
such as “Protect Ningbo,” and “Return my health” painted on them. The
|
||
government gave in to the protesters’ demands that night, announcing
|
||
that they would halt the expansion project while they complete a
|
||
“scientific review.” On Monday, the 29th of October, 200 people staged
|
||
a sit-in, but police dispersed the group, arresting a few of the
|
||
protesters.
|
||
|
||
## Results
|
||
|
||
The government agreed to halt the expansion, but did not remove it which
|
||
many protesters wanted.
|
||
|
||
## See Also
|
||
|
||
- [Chinese Protest Wave (2007 -
|
||
2014)](Chinese_Protest_Wave_\(2007_-_2014\) "wikilink")
|
||
- [Shifang Anti-Factory
|
||
Campaign](Shifang_Anti-Factory_Campaign_\(2012\) "wikilink")
|
||
|
||
## References
|
||
|
||
[Global Nonviolent Action
|
||
Database](Global_Nonviolent_Action_Database "wikilink") - [Chinese
|
||
residents and students stop petrochemical plant expansion in
|
||
Ningbo, 2012](https://nvdatabase.swarthmore.edu/content/chinese-residents-and-students-stop-petrochemical-plant-expansion-ningbo-2012) |