China Pollution Protest
Protesters march towards the city government office in Zhejiang province's Ningbo city, protesting the proposed expansion of a petrochemical factory ...
Protesters march towards the city government office in Zhejiang province's Ningbo city, protesting the proposed expansion of a petrochemical factory Sunday, Oct. 28, 2012. Thousands of people in the eastern Chinese city clashed with police Saturday while protesting the proposed expansion of the factory that they say would spew pollution and damage public health, townspeople said. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)
China Pollution Protest
Chinese paramilitary police form up inside the city government office in Zhejiang province's Ningbo city, as protesters gather to protest the propose...
Chinese paramilitary police form up inside the city government office in Zhejiang province's Ningbo city, as protesters gather to protest the proposed expansion of a petrochemical factory Sunday, Oct. 28, 2012. Thousands of people in the eastern Chinese city clashed with police Saturday while protesting the proposed expansion of the factory that they say would spew pollution and damage public health, townspeople said. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)
China Pollution Protest
Protesters pull out a Chinese national flag in front of a local government office in Zhejiang province's Ningbo city, protesting the proposed expansi...
Protesters pull out a Chinese national flag in front of a local government office in Zhejiang province's Ningbo city, protesting the proposed expansion of a petrochemical factory Sunday, Oct. 28, 2012. Several hundred citizens of Ningbo gathered outside the offices of the municipal government and shouted for the city's mayor to come out and for the release of people they believed had been detained by police during demonstrations Saturday. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)
China Pollution Protest
Residents march in Zhejiang province's Ningbo city, protesting the proposed expansion of a petrochemical factory on Sunday, Oct. 28, 2012. Thousands ...
Residents march in Zhejiang province's Ningbo city, protesting the proposed expansion of a petrochemical factory on Sunday, Oct. 28, 2012. Thousands of people in the city clashed with police Saturday while protesting the plan that they say would spew pollution and damage public health, townspeople said. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)
China Pollution Protest
A Chinese woman is taken away by Chinese police officers during a protest against the proposed expansion of a petrochemical factory outside the city ...
A Chinese woman is taken away by Chinese police officers during a protest against the proposed expansion of a petrochemical factory outside the city government office in Zhejiang province's Ningbo city, Sunday, Oct. 28, 2012. After a weekend of protests by thousands of citizens over pollution fears, a local Chinese government relented Sunday and agreed that a petrochemical factory would not be expanded, only to see the protesters refuse to halt their demonstration. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)
Protests against the expansion of a factory are resuming in an eastern China city despite a local government pledge to halt the project.
About 200 protesters gathered outside Ningbo government offices Monday for a fourth straight day of protests. Police channeled the crowd from the front of the building off to a side street.
The protests have occasionally featured violent clashes between protesters and police, who have detained some demonstrators. On Sunday night, the government promised to halt the expansion of the ethylene plant belonging to state-run Sinopec, though the crowd continued to protest, leaving only late in the night.
The protest, the latest on environmental issues, comes as China's authoritarian government wants calm for a transfer of power in the Communist Party leadership at a party congress that starts Nov. 8.
