Chinese protest polluters in southwest

At least several hundred people on Saturday protested against a proposed oil refinery and petrochemical processing plant in the southwestern city of Kunming, The Wall Street Journal reported. Organizers of the protest called for a third-party assessment of the plant’s environmental impacts, which protesters fear will also affect their health. “We will see how the government reacts to today’s protest,” said Zheng Xiejian, a Kunming native and protester in attendance on Saturday. “If they have no response, we will continue protesting.” Officials in the capital of neighboring Sichuan province, Chengdu, have also been busy in recent day heading off potential unrest over a planned oil refinery.