China: New Year Confrontation Against Power Station in Guangzhou · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

On new year eve, residents of Junjing Garden in Guangzhou city organized a gathering against the construction of a Power station on the southern side of the residential area. According to the report from Sound of Hope, 24 of the residents were arrested the next day on 1 of Jan, 2009, among two of them were primary school kids who were holding banner during the protest gathering.
The power station had once been stopped by local residents 2 years ago, but the government decided to restore the construction saying that the magnetic field generated by the electricity is at a safe level. However, the residents do not trust the government's statistic and explanation and they criticized the mainstream media for their one-sided story in Junjing forum. In responding to Southern Metropolis feature report, aaaznh said:
封锁媒体,欺上瞒下合不合法?北京中科院科学家都反对把变电站建小区,谁才是真正的专家?电力专家就是为利益服务的华南虎专家,周围有大量的空地为什么不建?早就规划了为什么还要让周围建学校和居民楼?
Ajuns pointed out:
ZF见隐瞒不住了，开始利用媒体做单方的宣传攻势了，大家想办法把事情真相告诉市民。要充分利用网络报导后面的跟贴，将现场图片联接告诉市民。
qinf2 said:
失真报道，是什么原因让他们这样的报道呢。为什么不到群众中来，骏景大部分都是外地人，绝大部分都是受过高等教育的人，这样的一群人的分辨力绝对不低。造成知识分子忍无可忍的原因为什么不报道出来。订这样的报纸有何用。
I am poor and so I am not scared posted this picture to express his feeling:
Indeed the power station is really close, the photo below show the construction site and protest banners hanging outside the residential buildings:
The new round of confrontation between the residents and polices started on 30 of December when a large number of polices appeared in the district to reopen the construction site:
In reaction to the government's action, the residents decided to organize a new year eve gathering on 31 of December – 1 of Jan to pray for their children's health:
A large number of police arrived and resulted in a confrontation:
Due to the police arrest of 24 residents, more gatherings and “walkings” (meaning demonstration) happened in the past few days. This video clip below shows the gathering in Jan 3, 2009, the residents demand the police to release the protesters:
In order to sustain the protest action, the residents discussed new protest strategy in the forum. Moonlight suggested to stop paying the management fee:
出来散步也有几天了，心情真的很激动，感觉又回到了大学的时候，不过那个时候是为了国家（98年中国驻南联盟大使馆被炸），现在是为了自己的小家，其实也是我们共同的家。坦白的说，这几天雷声很大，不过雨点小，电狗们好像就是缩了壳的乌龟，不管你怎么摇，我就是不管。
冷静想一下，我们是不是打击面太宽了，我们喊反对暴力，是针对JC的，我们喊反对建变电站，是针对电力局的。我们喊要求迁移，是针对规划部门的，我们喊，还我绿地，是针对合生的。我们是一人对四人，处处都打，处处都打不痛，所以我建议我们选最容易入手的地方去打。
仔细考虑一下，我觉的最好是针对现在的开发商和物业，开发商和物业都是穿一条裤子的。我们在散步的同时，现在应该全面停交物业管理费。这可是实实在在的真金白银啊，只要我们停交三个月，相信物业就会急了。他能怎么办？？停水，我不相信他敢一次给几百户一起停水断电，如果真的停了更好，几千人上街打水的场面，一定比我们散步更能让媒体注意。