Protestors against factory pollution shot in Eastern Tibet

Armed police opened fire on local villagers protesting against a cement factory in Madang township (Xiahe County), eastern Tibet on Saturday 15 May. Fifteen people were taken to hospital for injuries from gunshot wounds and beatings by police.

Locals claim that the factory creates serious harm to their lives by polluting grasslands and livestock. In addition to the concerns about pollution local Tibetans say that the factory was built on a religious site. One thousand Tibetans from seven villages in Madang appealed to the factory peacefully by submitting a petition to the authorities.

On Saturday locals started rebuilding a road to Yarshul village that has been blocked due to expansion of the factory. Staff from the factory and local party officials warned them to stop the road construction and threatened that the authorities would take action against them. It is reported that the protestors were already moving back when armed police started shooting at them, injuring two protestors.

Earlier this month, Tibetan villagers in Markham in the Tibetan area of Kham protested against mining of a mountain held sacred by locals. A stand- off with authorities resulted in the injury of at least five Tibetans, including two women.

Read the full petition by villagers of Madangtownship Petition of Appeal, translated by the International Campaign for Tibet

Appellants: All villagers from the seven natural villages[i]of Yaxiu Village etc in Madang Township, Xiahe County;
Defendants: Amdo Cement Company LLC, Xiahe County;
Court-appointed representative: Wang Zhimeng, general manager of said company.

It is requested:
1) To compel the defendant in accordance with the law to place strict controls on dust and pollution during the process of production, and to return the surrounding people’s natural environment to its pristine condition;
2) To compel the defendant in accordance with the law to withdraw from the forcibly occupied site of religious activity – the Mani Stack.[ii]
3) To compel the defendant to withdraw [illegible] from the illegally occupied historical road and return it to its original condition;
4) To compel the defendant to immediately cease and desist all encroachments, and to repair the “White Pagoda” damaged during the course of their production. [I.e., the Mani Stack.]

The appellants’ facts and reasoning are as follows:
All people of the seven natural villages have lived for generations upon generations within Yaxiu Village in Madang Township, relying upon tilling fields and grazing livestock for maintaining our livelihood. Ever since the Madang Cement Factory began operations within our village, the previous tranquility of life on the farm has been completely broken by modernization, and in particular in the years since the cement factory became a limited company and the scale of production steadily increased. For over a thousand of us villagers, this has brought with it enormous harm: the cement factory gave no consideration or [illegible] to controlling pollution [illegible] in step with production. Having expanded production, the amount of dust being discharged was an unknown number of times greater than before reconstruction. At times when the more serious pollutants are being emitted, even opening one’s eyes can be very difficult. Due to the wanton discharge of large amounts of dust and pollutants, harvests at the farms of we villagers living in the areas surrounding the cement factory dropped sharply (the most serious drop was over 60%); and because grazing on the slopes was seriously polluted, not only was the rate of growth severely slowed, more importantly, cattle and sheep would no longer graze on the polluted grass slopes. The pastures have become “ash grass,” forcing us to go ever farther to search for grazing and even to buy in grass fodder because the natural pastures have lost their function of supporting livestock, severely impacting upon our normal lives.

Aside from the severe pollution created in the process of production, during the cement factory’s expansion in 2009 they forcibly occupied a site where we carry out religious activities – Mani Stack. The large-tonnage trucks going to and from the cement factory have not only damaged the road – the White Pagoda [Mani Stack] is built next to a farming road – the White Pagoda itself now leans and is cracked. We villagers have twice spent money to carry out repairs, but in the end we couldn’t keep up with the amount of damage being caused by the cement factory; and now, because of the extent of the damage, no one dares to go into the White Pagoda for religious activities.

During production, dozens of large-tonnage trucks arrive with raw materials and leave with cement goods, operating 24-hours a day at times and seriously damaging farming roads. Already, it’s impossible to pass normally; added to which, during the cement factory’s period of expansion it forcibly occupied the original farming road, which has now crowded the farming road down next to the [illegible] Yaxiu River, giving rise to the possibility of [illegible] into the river at during dark or when it rains.

[Illegible] Today, when all the world is advocating harmonious development and our country is fully implementing a scientific viewpoint of development, the defendants at the same time as expanding production ignored state environment protection laws by seriously contravening effluent and dust and pollutant outputs, creating serious harm to our normal lives. Therefore, having attained no outcome in discussions with the cement factory leaders the only option was to petition relevant departments and earnestly request a high degree of attention, leading to an amicable resolution that will avoid the occurrence of drastic actions. At the same time, in order to protect the natural environment where we live, we shall report the illegal actions of the cement factory to the relevant environmental departments, and to central news and media departments and ministries and await an ultimate resolution.

With regards,
The appellant: Gala and all other villagers from the seven natural villages of Yaxiu Village etc in Madang Township, Xiahe County. May 13, 2010.

[i] A ‘natural village’ refers to regular village in a rural area. An alternative is an ‘administrative village.’

[ii] A Mani Stack (Chinese: Mani tui) in this context refers to a carefully constructed pile of stones bearing carved mantras and passages from Buddhist scriptures. In this case, it would appear that the stack was fairly high as it is referred to later in the petition as the “White Pagoda.” Mani Stacks are seldom seen in this particular part of Amdo, and are far more common in Kham.