ZENGCHENG, China (Reuters) - - Chinese riot police brought a semblance of calm to the riot-torn southern Chinese city of Zengcheng on Tuesday, but the anger of migrant workers at being discriminated against by the authorities remained palpable in this key export hub. In the wake of the latest protests, a state think-tank warned that China's tens of millions of workers pouring into cities from the countryside would become a serious threat to stability unless they were treated more fairly.
Riot police poured into Zengcheng after migrant workers went on the rampage over the weekend to protest the abuse of a pregnant street hawker who had become a symbol of simmering grassroots discontent.
The protesters wrecked the government office in the city's Dadun suburb, setting alight at least six vehicles. Parts of iron gates and spiked fence lay twisted and broken.
"We're angry," said a migrant worker from Sichuan, nervous about revealing his name given the massive deployment of riot police in his neighbourhood. "I feel the rule of law here doesn't seem to exist ... the local officials can do what they want."
Zengcheng is around an hour's drive from Guangzhou, the affluent capital of far southern Guangdong province, which produces about a third of the country's exports. About 150 million workers have moved from the countryside to the city in search of a better standard of living.
Wages have improved, but there remains a stark gap between migrant workers and those originally from the city, which has fomented resentment and made many feel like second class citizens.
Other clashes have erupted in southern China in recent weeks, including in Chaozhou, where hundreds of migrant workers demanding payment of wages at a ceramics factory attacked government buildings and set vehicles ablaze.
"We have seen these kinds of disturbance on a regular basis in China for several years now. I think you can possibly say there has been a bit of an upsurge, certainly visible disturbance in the last few weeks," said Geoffrey Crothall of workers' rights group China Labour Bulletin. Continued...
Same story as in Africa and Egypt: bureaucratic goons/police show no tact in resolving simple problems so people rise up to demand commonsense. You'd think Obama, Pelosi, et al would catch on and start purging the nation of bureaucratic riff raff and farm out to the private sector problem situations.