Earthquake And Arrests At Chengdu

A powerful earthquake hit near Chengdu. At this time, CNN reports that death toll had already jumped past 7,600. It is certainly expected to climb much higher as more reports came in. The quake was felt in most areas in China including Beijing, although there were also reports that there was a separate, much smaller scaled, earthquake in Beijing suburb.

Chengdu is the site of a "strolling protest" just a week ago. Before the earthquake hit, it was reported that four people had been arrested for the protest, under charges of "fabricating and spreading rumors, distortion, incitement to riot and illegal demonstration."

Walk Against Chemical Plant in Chengdu

After the successful "flash mob" style protests in Xiamen and Shanghai earlier, another protest occurred in the inland city of Chengdu, the capital of Sichuan province. According to Reuters, about 200 people marched peacefully for about two hours on May 4, protesting against construction of a major petrochemical complex.

Once again, it is not billed as a protest march per se, which would lead to endless trouble. But the event was simply an occurrence of many people "took a stroll" together on the street. It even got a written up in the official Beijing Daily.