Officials in the southern Chinese city of Maoming vowed yesterday to listen to public opinion before deciding whether to go ahead with a new petrochemical plant.

Residents’ protests against the plant, which was to manufacture plastics chemical paraxylene, turned into violent riots on Sunday.

But a Maoming government spokesman said there was no timetable for the launch of the plant, which still awaits an environmental evaluation.

“A decision won’t be made before reaching a consensus with the public,” said the spokesman.

Sunday’s protest had started out peacefully, with more than 1,000 people staging a sit-in at city offices in the morning while police stood guard.

But by the early evening police reinforcements arrived in dozens of vehicles and tear gas was fired to disperse the demonstrators when around 20 people on motorbikes threw bricks, stones and bottles at riot police, destroyed traffic signs and set fire to roadside police booths.