Even Calling For A Banner-Free Walk Along River Enough For Police Interrogation In Dead Pig World

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Such negligence exacerbates the serious water quality issues China faces. Greenpeace East Asia estimates that 320m people in the country are without access to clean drinking water. A 2011 study by the ministry of environmental protection found that of 118 cities, 64 had "seriously contaminated" groundwater supplies. Yang Hanchun, of the Chinese Association of Animal Science and Veterinary Medicine, says China has comprehensive laws for the protection of the environment against animal husbandry, but authorities often fail to uphold them.
Protests quashed

Over the weeks since the discovery of 16,000 pig carcasses in Shanghai's water supply, authorities have consistently worked to quell public outcry, reiterating that drinking water is safe. While there have been reports and discussion of the incident in state media and on the country's rollicking microblog network, which is curtailed by censors, attempts to organise protests have been swiftly quashed.

Pan Ting, an outspoken Shanghainese poet, was detained for questioning by police after she posted a call for a mass walk along the Huangpu, the city's central river, on her Sina Weibo account. The post, which went out to her 50,000 followers on 14 March, called for a "pure stroll" without banners or slogans. Soon afterwards she was asked to "drink tea" with the police – an idiom used to describe interrogations. On her other Weibo account she later posted: "I feel very disappointed. You even shut out a voice concerned about local pollution and your own lives. I will see how long you will shut me out. At least uncle tea said to me: I understand where you are coming from."

As news about Pan's detention spread through Weibo, prominent users voiced support. "Just because a young woman said a few honest words about the dead pig issue, she was detained, banned and forced to hand in all of her communication devices," said Li Minsheng, a well-known writer. "She was even 'missing' for three hours! Her only request was: 'Please do not come ring my doorbell early in the morning or in the middle of the night to scare my mum.' As a big city that has hosted the World Expo, why can't Shanghai tolerate a poet? What law has Pan Ting violated? Please respond to the whole nation, Shanghai!"

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http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/mar/29/dead-pigs-china-water-supply