Jonathan Watts from TheObserver reports on the recent protest against a Beijing landfill site.
In a sign that the Olympics feelgood factor has already begun to evaporate, protesters took to the streets of Beijing yesterday in an escalating campaign against the city’s biggest dump site, which they claimed was polluting the air with a foul stench and dangerous dioxins.
Wearing surgical masks and carrying umbrellas, the mostly young, middle-class campaigners blocked roads, chanted anti-pollution slogans and refused to allow rubbish trucks to pass as dozens of police filmed them and appealed for calm.
Residents of the affluent Changying district of east Beijing have complained for more than three years about the nearby Gaoantun landfill and waste incineration facility.
Photos of the event are from the Chinese BBS pop.pcpop.com and have already begun to be deleted on the source page by censors.
