By Ben Hedges 29/07/2009

Employees of Jilin province state-owned steel manufacturer Tonghua celebrated on Friday night. It came after authorities agreed to stop an unpopular takeover by another company.

The takeover involved privately owned Jianlong Steel. Jianlong wanted to buy a controlling stake in Tonghua, and their plan was to get rid of more than 80% of the workers.

On Friday, July 24th, thousands of workers started to protest outside the Tonghua factory. Carrying banners with slogans like “Get out of Tonghua” the protesters clashed with riot police, who were called in from other cities.

The protest came to a head on Friday evening, when Jianlong Steel general manager Chen Guojun spoke with representatives of the angered workers. Chen threatened to lay off almost the entire Tonghua workforce.

The protestors pulled Chen outside and by 7pm he had been beaten to death.

A Tonghua employee told us in a phone interview that by this time the number of workers plus family members who came to support had reached 30 to 40 thousand.

[Tonghua Employee]:
"The workers all went, possibly about 70 to 80 percent went."

Police could not control the situation. The mayor of Tonghua city, who had rushed to the scene, was forced to retreat under police escort. Angry workers destroyed three police vehicles.

Yet events took an unusual turn that evening, as the Jilin provincial government announced that it would not permit Jianlong Steel to merge with Tonghua.

After this was reported on a local TV station that night, protestors set off firecrackers to celebrate.

News agency AFP reported on Tuesday that police are stepping up the investigation into the killing of Mr Chen. But at least for now, Chinese workers have won a rare victory in a land where, regardless of the law, the authorities so often have the final say.