Thousands Battle Police In SW China Over Water Pollution From Brewery - AFP

[hatrack]

Thousands of protesters accusing a brewery in southwest China of polluting water supplies clashed with armed police, a human rights group said Sunday, the latest violence sparked by environmental worries.

Several thousand residents in Sichuan province took to the streets to protest contamination of drinking and irrigation water by China Resources Breweries, said the Hong Kong-based Information Center for Human Rights and Democracy.

The angry citizens near Shifang city surrounded the factory on July 26, stopping production and holding up cargo, it said. More than 500 armed police were dispatched in what the report said turned into a "violent and bloody" confrontation. 20 people were injured and seven arrested, the report added.

Police in Shifang city and Yuanshi township, where the factory is based, contacted by AFP Sunday refused to comment. Nobody answered the phone at the brewery, which is listed on the Hong Kong stock exchange.

EDIT

http://www.terradaily.com/2007/070729081140.0grz0c04.html

[NYC]

1. How capitalist.

The police side with the brewery, and the people can continue drinking polluted water.