Waste pipeline in Eastern China canceled after protest

Officials in the eastern China’s Nantong city canceled a proposed industrial waste pipeline project on Saturday in response to the demands of environmental protesters, Reuters reported. Hours before the announced cancellation about 1,000 people took to the streets in the city of Qidong, just north of Shanghai, to protest the construction of the pipeline. The project would have dumped waste water from a nearby Japanese-owned factory into the sea near Qidong. The protests turned violent, with at least two police officers dragged into the crowd and beaten. A number of protesters also occupied the local government’s main building where they smashed computers and overturned desks. This latest protest follows similar demonstrations against environmentally harmful projects elsewhere in China, including one in Shifang, Sichuan province, which led to the termination of a planned copper plant earlier this month.