An enraged mob of around two hundred aquaculture farmers and close to one thousand locals from Guangzhou province forced their way into Fujian Huadong Shipyard, smashing the office building and parts of the shipyard infrastructure, forcing the shipyard to temporarily suspend its operations, Reuters reports.
The violent attack came as a response to the pollution of the neighbouring seashore which decimated surrounding abalone farms and caused substantial losses, for which the farmers blamed Huadong Shipyard.
An unnamed shipyard official stated that Huadong Shipyard could not be the one to blame for the pollution, saying that the shipyard had not received any newbuilding orders in years due to depressed market.
The shipyard is currently engaged solely in ship repair operations, which according to the official causes little pollution to the local environment.
An investigation on the shipyard’s environmental impact on its surroundings was consequently launched, with the results indicating that the Huadong’s pollution discharge does not exceed the standard.