HONG KONG — Residents of a county in southern China thronged the streets in protest over the weekend to oppose a proposed garbage incineration plant, defying government warnings and police detentions. The protest was the latest of a succession of demonstrations against waste-disposal projects by pollution-weary Chinese citizens.

香港——中国南方一个县的居民违抗政府警告，不顾警察拘留，在周末聚集街头抗议，反对拟建的垃圾焚烧厂。这是备受污染困扰的中国公民对废物处理项目一连串抗议活动的最近一次。

A street march broke out on Saturday in Boluo County, Guangdong Province, and three residents contacted by telephone said the protest had resumed on Sunday, when residents again walked toward government offices in the main town, despite a police announcement, issued through the domestic news media, that 24 people had already been detained over the confrontation. The residents all spoke on the condition of anonymity, citing fears of arrest.

广东省博罗县周六爆发了街头游行，通过电话联系到的三位居民表示，抗议在周日继续，居民再次走向县城的政府办公楼，虽然警方通过国内新闻媒体发通告表示，已有24人在冲突中被拘留。这几位居民因为担心被逮捕，都不愿透露姓名。

“We strongly urge the government authorities to reconsider the siting of the waste incineration plant,” said an appeal against the project that spread on the Internet in China. One of the Boluo residents who helped with the appeal confirmed it had come from there.

一份在中国互联网上流传的反对项目的请愿书说，“我们强烈呼吁政府有关部门重新考虑垃圾焚烧厂的选址。”一位帮助组织请愿的博罗县居民证实，该请愿书来自那里。

If the plan went ahead, the letter said, there was “the risk of an expanding and deepening conflict.”

请愿书说，如果项目照常进行，将有“加深矛盾的危险”。

The conflict brought into local focus a much wider problem across China: the chasm of distrust between a government struggling with mounting garbage from homes and industry, and a public that often has little confidence in official promises to cleanly dispose of that garbage. The conflict is especially acute in southern China, which is dense with people, industry and expanding cities.

此次冲突聚焦了中国各地面临的一个更广泛的问题：政府和民众之间不信任的鸿沟，一方面政府急需应付来自家庭和工业的大量垃圾，另一方面，民众常常对清洁处理这些垃圾的官方承诺缺乏信心。这种冲突在中国南方尤为严重，因为南方的人口密度高，工业密集，而且城市在快速扩大。

The Boluo government has said the proposed incinerator would be able to burn 700 metric tons of waste a day, generating power while releasing minimal pollution with no dangerous amounts of toxins. But in Boluo, government vows of safe disposal of garbage have been met with disbelief from residents fearful of toxins and sometimes convinced that the plants are corrupt boondoggles.

博罗县政府表示，拟建的焚化炉每天能焚烧700吨垃圾，同时还能发电，尽量降低焚烧释放的污染物，不释放有害毒素。然而博罗的居民不相信政府无害化处理垃圾的誓言，他们担心有毒物质，而且有时认为修建处理厂是腐败的蠢事。

“Of course, the government would say it’s safe,” said one of the residents who helped write the public appeal. “But if the river here is polluted, then we’ll all be harmed, and there’s also the problem of air pollution from the dioxins.”

帮助撰写公开请愿书的居民之一说，“政府当然会说这是安全的。但是，如果河水被污染了，那我们都会受到伤害，而且还有二噁英污染空气的问题。”

The Boluo government said that about a thousand residents protested on Saturday. Online, however, some people claimed that the number was at least 10,000. Pictures and video from the scene, posted online by Chinese news websites, suggested that perhaps a few thousand took to the streets of the county seat, also called Luoyang. One of the residents contacted by phone said a crowd of about the same size assembled on Sunday, but two other residents said it appeared to be smaller.

博罗县政府表示，大约有一千居民参加了周六的抗议。但有人在网上声称，参加的人数至少是1万。从中国新闻网站上发布的现场拍摄的图片和视频来看，也许有几千人走上了县城罗阳镇的街头。通过电话联系到的一名居民说，差不多大小的一群人周日再次聚集，但其他两名居民则说，周日的人群没有那么大。

Pictures of the protest on Saturday showed residents, young and old, holding up banners, including one that declared, “Oppose the garbage incineration site as unsuitable, people of Boluo unite and defend our home.” Other pictures showed rows of riot police officers with shields and helmets guarding the county government offices, and children holding up pieces of paper with the word “resist.

周六的抗议图片显示，男女老少的居民举着横幅，其中一幅上写着“反对垃圾焚烧场选址不当，博罗人民团结起来，保护家园！”其他图片显示，成排的防暴警察手拿盾牌、带着头盔在保护县政府大楼，还有手举写着“抵制”字样纸片的儿童。

Air, water and soil pollution have become sources of public protest and discontent in China, where the Communist Party often deploys legions of security forces against even small, peaceful assemblies. In Boluo, too, the government ordered the police to quell the protest. Eight of the 24 people detained were released after official admonitions, but the police said they were still hunting for more leaders of the demonstration, according to news reports that quoted the county’s public security bureau.

空气、水和土壤的污染已成为中国公众抗议和不满的问题，共产党经常会派出大量安全部队，对付哪怕是很小的和平集会。博罗也一样，当地政府下令警察平息抗议。有24人被拘留，其中8人经过官方训诫后获释，但据新闻媒体援引县公安局的话报道，警方说，他们仍在通缉抗议活动的更多领导者。

The instigators had “organized members of the public who do not understand the truth to take to the street in an unlawful assembly and march,” the police announcement said. It added that other people who initiated the protests had three days to surrender to the authorities, or they would face harsher punishment.

警方的通告说，“少数别有用心人员无视法律法规，组织不明真相的群众上街非法集会游行，严重影响社会秩序和交通秩序。”通告还说，其他参与组织抗议的人，需三日内到公安机关投案自首，否则从严处理。

“The public security authorities will also apply the law to sternly strike against groups or individuals who spread rumors on the Internet,” the announcement said.

通告说，“公安部门将对在网络上散布谣言的组织或个人依法严厉打击。”

On Sunday, the Boluo County government’s website was hacked, and its front page had been replaced with a picture apparently from the protest, and an angry message that said, “The Constitution grants citizens freedom of assembly.”

周日，博罗县委县政府的网站曾一度被黑，取代其主页的是一张显然是来自抗议现场的照片，还有一条愤怒的信息：“宪法赋予公民集会的自由。”

The protest came after the government of Huizhou, an administrative area that includes Boluo County, gave more detailed plans for the plant in August.

抗议活动发生在惠州市政府于8月份公布了有关焚烧厂的更详细方案之后，博罗县属惠州行政区。

Officials said the incinerator would be the cleanest way to deal with the waste, and it would be built a safe distance of at least 500 meters, or about 550 yards, from the nearest residents.

官方的说法是，焚烧厂是处理废弃物的最清洁的方式，将建在离居民区至少500米以上的安全距离之外。

But many residents said they did not believe the officials’ statements. Their chief worry was that the plant would emit dioxins and other pollutants into the air and a nearby river, posing a risk to their health, a claim that Boluo officials have rejected in interviews with local newspapers.

但不少居民表示，他们不相信政府官员的声称。他们主要担心的是，焚烧厂将把二噁英和其他污染物排放到空气中及附近的河流里，对他们的健康构成威胁，博罗县官员在接受当地报纸采访时，否认了这种说法。

Other cities across China are dealing with similar tensions between the growing need for waste disposal and rising public anxiety and ire about pollution. In May, a demonstration against a planned waste incinerator near one of eastern China’s biggest cities, Hangzhou, turned violent, leaving about 10 demonstrators and 29 police officers injured. There have also been protests in Guangdong Province, mostly peaceful gatherings that participants, in an effort to avoid arrest, have described as “mass strolls.”

中国其他城市也有同样的矛盾：废物处理的需求不断增长，而公众的焦虑、以及对污染的愤怒也在不断上升。今年五月，在中国东部最大城市之一杭州，一次针对一个计划修建的垃圾焚烧厂的示威，演变成暴力冲突，导致约10示威者和29名警察受伤。广东省也曾发生过抗议活动，大都是和平的，参与者为了避免被逮捕，把这些活动描述为“集体散步”。

Sometimes, protests have prompted local governments to delay or cancel waste disposal plants and other industrial projects. On Sunday, The Huizhou Daily, the official newspaper of an area that includes Boluo, quoted a government spokesman who denied that the proposed plant’s site had already been decided and hinted at some leeway regarding the matter’s resolution.

有时，抗议活动促使当地政府推迟或取消垃圾处理厂或其他工业项目。周日，包括博罗县在内的当地政府官方报纸《惠州日报》，援引政府发言人的话，否认了焚烧厂的选址已经确定的说法，并暗示此事的解决有一些回旋余地。