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Chinese workers abandon Beijing protest march: state media
Beijing (AFP) April 4, 2009 More than 1,000 workers Friday began a march towards Beijing in protest over job losses at a factory in the north of China, but later gave up after authorities intervened, employees and state media said. Demonstrators travelling by bicycle and on foot had attempted to make the 140-kilometre (90-mile) journey from Baoding city in Hebei province to the Chinese capital to present a petition to government, news agency Xinhua said. The textile factory, which employs around 4,000 people, has been closed for a week, a worker who was not taking part in the march told AFP by telephone. However, early Saturday Xinhua said most the marchers had been persuaded by the local government to give up the hike and go home, with buses laid on. "Government officials were patiently persuading just a small number of people remaining there," Xinhua said. "No conflicts or traffic jams were reported," it added, without saying how officials had persuaded the workers to return home. Xinhua said the workers had walked out on Friday over the company's "restructuring proposals". Earlier, the news agency had reported local government officials and police had met the protesters in a bid to persuade them to return home but the march had continued. "We are very unhappy, very angry, because the severance pay offered is not satisfactory," the worker, who declined to give her name, earlier told AFP. A number of factories in China's export-dependent economy have closed down or have reduced their capacity as demand for their goods dries up around the world. The huge numbers of often migrant workers who are affected by the closures are a source of disquiet for China's communist government, which fears social unrest as the once blistering pace of the country's economic growth slows. Share This Article With Planet Earth
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