Furniture plan sparks violence

(China Daily)
Updated: 2009-06-16 09:42

Hundreds of angry furniture makers attacked police and blocked main roads in the southeastern city of Nankang Monday morning, the first day of a controversial new tax plan to reshuffle the local furniture industry.

Local residents, who gathered along the furniture business district in the city, which is close to the provincial capital Nanchang in Jiangxi province, smashed and overturned police cars after gathering along the main street from 10 am Monday.

A video shot on a mobile phone by a local resident showed at least five police vehicles were overturned. Photos posted online showed unrest spread from the city along national highway 105 and that hundreds more residents had gathered along other roads.

Nearly 100 dealers went to the city government building to protest, reported Xinhua. The agency quoted police as saying that there were no injuries.

But Reuters quoted a local furniture entrepreneur surnamed Guo who said that there were more than 10,000 protesters, some of whom were hurt in clashes with police.

The protestors were angry about a restructure plan issued earlier this month that closed some furniture business, a major source of income in the city.

A complimentary tighter tax plan came into effect Monday, putting local furniture makers under more pressure following decline in demand from export markets.

A statement issued by the Nankang city government said it suspended the implementation of the new rule and dealers were urged to keep calm.