Inside China Today

Clash between laid off workers and police in Qiqihar

This report is brought to you by Xiao Sheng of the SOH Radio Network.

On June 30, News from Heilongjiang reported that a large number of laid off and retired workers from Qiqihar Paper Mill protested for two days last week in front of city hall and the local police station. The main reason is that the paper mill went bankrupt due to failure of its reform and many unresolved issues such as arrangement or compensation for employees.
Last Wednesday about 3000 people, laid off workers, retirees and their relatives, went to the local city hall to protest. A large number of police went to stabilize the situation. Clashes between the police force and protesters occurred and resulted in about a dozen workers being injured and seven detained. Hundreds of workers went to the police station to request that the detainees be released the day after.

Ms. Gao told our reporter that about a dozen workers were injured on that day, and four remain in the hospital. She added, “There was a clash between police and the workers. But only four are in the hospital and 14 or so are injured.”

Ms. Gao further explained that because of the support from workers, she and 6 other workers were released the next day. A large number of workers went to the police station and put pressure on the authorities. She was only a representative for the workers; she was taken to the detention center at 2:00pm and the others at 8:00pm. They were released at 3:00pm the next day.

Qiqihar Paper Mill started it’s reform in 2005. It had over 10,000 workers then – over 4000 employees and over 5,000 retirees. After the reform failed, the paper mill declared bankruptcy. The mill failed to make any arrangement or compensation for over 4,000 laid off employees.

This report is brought to you by Xiao Sheng for the SOH Radio Network.