Protests flare up in several provinces

A number of protests broke out in cities across the country Monday, set off by wage disputes, taxi drivers' grievances and perceived collaboration between local officials and organized criminals, the South China Morning Post reported. Over 2,000 workers at a diesel engine factory in Jiangyan, Jiangsu province, blocked roads in the city for the second straight day over the reported loss of their pensions to the factory's owner, who has allegedly disappeared with US$14.7 million. Taxi drivers in the hundreds in Sanya, Hainan province and Yongdeng County, Gansu went on strike over monopolistic taxi companies, high rents for cabs and unlicensed competitors. Malanzhuang town government in Tangshan, Hebei province saw large protests triggered by online rumors that gangsters had intimidated residents into selling their land at low prices and beat a local peasant to death, with no action taken by the local government. Regional and local governments have been urged to stem "mass incidents" to prevent large riots of the kind that occurred earlier this year in Weng'an, Guizhou province.