Residents of Chinese city protest against aluminum plant

BEIJING – Residents of a Chinese oil town near the Russian border have protested against a planned aluminum plant over pollution fears.

A video circulating on social media purportedly from a protest Tuesday shows a crowd of more than 200 people chanting and holding banners outside the Daqing city government headquarters. Several dozen police officers are standing guard outside the building.

A woman who answered the phone at the Daqing police hotline said residents who were worried about possible pollution protested in front of the Daqing government building on Tuesday morning and dispersed in the afternoon. She refused to identify herself.

Such protests against construction of chemical and other plants in Chinese cities are becoming increasingly common as the middle class becomes less tolerant of pollution and other health hazards.