China steps up probe into plant manager’s death

BEIJING – Police in northeast China yesterday stepped up an investigation into the beating death of a steel plant executive who was allegedly killed by irate workers fearing job cuts, the government said.

Employees at the Tonghua Iron and Steel Plant in Jilin province were incited to riot on July 24 by laid-off and retired workers who said more jobs would be lost after a planned takeover, the Jilin government said.’A few laid-off and retired workers took advantage of the situation to create rumours and exploit some of the workers,’ it said, recounting the events leading to the death of general manager Chen Guojun.They ‘incited discontent in the crowd and focussed the anger on Chen Guojun, whom they encircled, beat bloody and took hostage,’ said the statement, posted on the provincial government’s website late Monday.The newly appointed Chen was killed by ‘a small number of people’ who held him hostage and who violently repressed attempts by police and medical workers to rescue him, it said.’An investigation into his death is ongoing,’ it added.Observers have described the killing as a possibly unique instance in China of industrial mob violence claiming the life of a senior executive and reported by the state-controlled press.The unrest began after Tonghua, Jilin province’s biggest steel maker, announced last week that it was being taken over by the privately-owned Jianlong Group.According to Monday’s Global Times, when Jianlong took a minority stake in 2005, many veteran workers at Tonghua were forced out while the company hired a new work force.On July 24, the day Chen died, the government announced that the takeover bid would be scrapped, effectively ending the unrest, the Jilin government statement said.China sees many large-scale protests each year, often sparked by allegations of government corruption and fuelled by a widening gap between rich and poor.On June 15 in the southern city of Dongguan, a disgruntled worker at a metals company upset over compensation for a work-related injury slashed to death two Taiwan bosses and seriously injured another company manager.-Nampa-AFP