AFP reports on the grievances of workers from Baoding:
More than 1,000 workers were prevented Friday from marching 140 kilometres (90 miles) to Beijing from the city of Baoding to protest the closure of their textile factory.
But on Saturday the chairwoman of the Baoding Yimian Textile Ltd’s board of directors was suspended from the post and authorities launched an investigation into alleged malfeasance by the factory’s Hong Kong-based owner, Xinhua news agency reported.
Employees angered by the closure of the factory, which had employeed 4,000 people, set out on bicycle and foot from Baoding in Hebei province to Beijing to present a petition to the government, a centuries-old tradition.
