19 Sep 2011

Protests in village over pollution from solar panel plant

5:06 am on 19 September 2011

Villagers in eastern China have held three days of protests at a solar panel plant over pollution fears.

Around 500 people started gathering at Zhejiang Jinko Solar company in Haining city, Zhejiang province, on Thursday.

Officials say some of the protesters stormed the factory, overturning several cars and destroying offices.

Residents in the nearby village of Hongxiao said they became concerned after the deaths of a large number of river fish.

The Xinhua news agency Haining Environmental Protection Bureau deputy head Chen Hongming as saying that the factory's waste disposal had failed pollution tests since April.

He said the agency had warned the factory, but it had not effectively controlled the pollution.

The BBC reports company is a subsidiary of a Chinese solar company, JinkoSolar Holding Company, which is isted on the New York Exchange.

In a separate incident, the Shanghai Environmental Protection Bureau on Friday ordered the temporary closure of two factories in the east of the city, amid lead poisoning fears.

The bureau said in a statement that a ''small amount of children living in the Kangqiao area ... were found to have excessive levels of lead in their blood in early September''.

The BBC reports the factories affected include a large lead-acid battery plant operated by Shanghai Johnson Controls International Battery Company.

Johnson Controls of New York said it had suspended production at the site, but insisted it did not believe its plant was the source of the problem.