Chinese steelworkers end protest, release Official

Chinese steelworkers protesting the sale of their plant dispersed today after releasing a government official who had been blocked from leaving the premises, Xinhua News Agency reported.

As many as 400 employees of Linzhou Steel Corp. gathered yesterday in and around the plant in Henan province, demanding suspension of its acquisition by Fengbao Iron & Steel Co., the news agency said, citing worker representative Zhang Quanfu. The workers left after government mediators agreed to delay the takeover, Xinhua said.

Dong Zhangyin, sent by the local state-owned assets commission to oversee the transaction, was allowed to leave the plant yesterday by protesting workers who earlier blocked his exit, Xinhua said.

State-owned Linzhou Steel, formed in 1969, produces about 400,000 metric tons of pig iron and 100,000 tons of cement a year, and is China's only production base for low-titanium iron, Xinhua said.