Setback for Meinung anti-incinerator protest

A long-term anti-incinerator demonstration, started on Aug. 3 in Meinung (美濃)township, Kaohsiung County, suffered a setback on Tuesday, when 300 police dispersed about 100 protesters who had been camped out in tents in front of the waste incinerator for the previous 13 days.

The demonstration had caused a halt in operations of the incinerator because garbage trucks could not get to the facility, as the access road had been blocked by protesters.

The setback has, however, made local anti-incinerator groups even more determined to carry on their protest. Several groups held a strategy meeting yesterday to plan the launch of the next wave of opposition to the plant.

"Our opposition will not stop until the incinerator's owner closes the plant forever," Huang Teh-ching (黃德清), former head of the Meinung Anti-dam Alliance (美濃反水庫大聯盟), told the Taipei Times yesterday.

The alliance was the one of the local groups that was once dedicated to opposing the building of the Meinung Dam (美濃水庫) but has since joined the anti-incinerator movement.

Huang said that in the future their opposition would be conducted together with Meinung's Shihshan Borough Self-help Association (美濃獅山里反焚化爐自救會), the Meinung People's Association (MPA, 美濃愛鄉協進會), the Meinung Doctoral Scholars' Association (美濃博士學人聯誼會) and others.

A persistent opposition

Activists told the Taipei Times that some local officials and representatives from the incinerator had felt upset over the demonstration, which began on Aug. 3.

"Even though they were upset, no officials ever showed up to talk to us," Chen Kuei-ting (陳貴丁), head of Meinung's Shihshan Borough Self-help Association, told the Taipei Times.

"What we farmers want are fields where fruit trees can grow well," said Chen, adding that many vegetable and fruit farmers joined the demonstration because they suspect that their fruits trees growing near the incinerator are being damaged by pollution from the facility.

On Aug. 11, Chung Shao-hui (鍾紹恢), head of the Meinung Township Office, asked for help from the police to disperse the activists, who were protesting in front of the plant.

However, news that the police were to raid the demonstrator's camp at midnight on Aug. 15 leaked out. More and more anti-incinerator activists therefore gathered outside the plant to show their resistance to the the facility.

When the police started to pull protesters one-by-one out of the tents on Tuesday, Chen could not help but burst into loud sobs. Chen said that he could not believe that the police had become a tool of the government to suppress the people instead of protecting them.

"We will keep opposing the incinerator. Representatives for the plant's owner, Jihyu Waste Handling (日友公司), had sneered at us, saying `you stupid Hakka will never be able to keep up this protest,'" Chen told the Taipei Times.

Why Protest?

"What we fight for is justice. How can we let dishonest companies do illegal things, such as operate the Meinung Incinerator, without being punished?" Wu Chi-tsung (吳其聰), head of the Meinung Doctoral Scholars' Association (美濃博士學人聯誼會), told the Taipei Times.

The waste incinerator in Meinung, which is capable of treating up to 110 tonnes of waste per day, started operations in September of 1999, ostensibly for testing.

According to the activists, Jihyu did not apply for a construction license until November of the same year.