Protesters dump on Fujian landfill site
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"We tried to persuade the villagers to be rational," Weng Zhixiong, deputy director of Pingnan Public Security Bureau, told China Daily.
But protesters blocked the entrance again on Oct 11 and the security bureau detained nine of them on Oct 18.
"There were no physical confrontations and they didn't cause any direct financial losses, but we had to consider the huge potential loss of the suspension of the project."
Huang Chengkai, director of the dump project, claimed the local government sent emission samples of the landfill site to a professional test facility and the result showed the landfill would not pollute the surrounding farmland nor endanger villagers' health.
"All the tests proved the disposal project is safe," Huang said. "But now we have to put all the waste in a temporary dump site after the villagers blocked the road."
He failed to show China Daily the test report.
Zhang Changsheng, a 54-year-old farmer in Houlong village, said the landfill has caused a considerable decrease of farm yields.
His 0.8 hectares of farmland for rice is at the foot of the landfill.
Zhang said black sewage flows into his farm and makes the plants sick.
"The waste water killed some plants and made them yield much less than before," he said.
Another villager, Zhang Changyan, 48, gave up harvesting his 0.13 hectares of rice this year.
"The yield was too little to be harvested and the rice was polluted," he said.
He said his family depended on the rice for food, but this year he harvested nearly nothing, in stark contrast with the 250 kg of rice harvested last year and 500 kg in 2008.
The landfill also harms health, according to villagers.
"The garbage dump causes a terrible smell. I can barely breathe when farming near it," said Zhang Shuying, a 60-year-old villager. "Flies were buzzing everywhere."
"Many villagers have moved out. Only the old people and poor families stay," said Zheng Jiabiao, a 45-year-old villager. "The government should relocate all of us."
He said only about 200 people are still in the village, which used to have more than 1,400 villagers.
According to China's regulations, people living within 500 meters of the dump should be relocated and provided with free land and housing compensation.
Huang Chengkai said they have relocated 15 families who lived around the site, and provided them with 60 square meters of free land and more than 350,000 yuan of compensation.
"But for the families living outside the area, like those living 520 meters away from the dump, we don't have to relocate them," Huang said.
He said the local government is providing the rest of the villagers another relocation plan: Each family can pay 58,000 yuan for 60 square meters of land on the edge of the county.
"But some villagers just don't trust the government," said Huang.
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