By John Ruwitch HONG KONG, June 6 (Reuters) - The mayor of a major Chinese city that has been rocked by protests against a proposed petrochemical plant said on Wednesday recent street marches were "inappropriate" and some people had acted illegally. Xiamen mayor Liu Cigui said the city government would consider scrapping plans for the Taiwan-invested plant to make paraxylene (PX), a petrochemical that goes into polyester and fabrics, if an impact study recommended against it. Angry residents had denounced the project as an "atomic bomb" threatening the scenic seaside environment, and they claimed to have circulated nearly a million mobile phone text messages urging families and friends to protest against the plant. A week ago, the city in the wealthy eastern province of Fujian announced it was suspending construction and would do another environmental assessment of the project. But on Friday, witnesses said thousands of protesters, some wearing gas masks and holding banners, marched through Xiamen demanding the government scrap the plans altogether. Liu said there were also some activities on Saturday. "There are some people who have taken advantage of the people's attention to environmental issues, attention to this project, and taken inappropriate and even illegal actions," Liu told a small group of reporters in Hong Kong. He said he felt "the government and the people are on the same page", but warned that the city would not allow any "illegal activities". "We will handle things according to the law. If they have broken the law, we will investigate," he said. Liu declined to answer questions about whether some people had already been arrested, or whether the government was trying to suppress the popular outcry against the chemical plant. Friday's protest in the port city of about 1.5 million people swelled to 20,000 at its peak, one witness told Reuters, prompting the government to block mobile phone text messages in an effort to stop residents from joining the demonstrations. Protesters marched to the city government offices and demanded the resignation of the Communist Party Secretary of Xiamen, He Lifeng, a witness said. China's leaders have promised to clean up skies and water degraded by decades of unchecked growth, and environmental agencies are increasingly vocal about officials who push industrial projects without assessing the impact. But many local governments remain eager to boost employment and revenues even if the environment suffers. Ultimately, what happens to the project is up to the Xiamen government, Liu said, and it would base its decision on the new environmental impact study. "The environmental assessment could lead to it continuing to be built," said the mayor. "Now, if it says the impact will be very big and it's best not to proceed, then our government may consider accepting that."
