[8] Reuters reported that although many local residents supported the efforts to create jobs, they were upset by the government's lack of consultation with the public and failure to adequately address environmental concerns.

[8] Authorities and state-run media reported that the protests turned violent, with demonstrators overturning police vehicles and throwing bricks at government buildings.

Witnesses told the South China Morning Post that about 8,000 police were stationed along major roads, and that the security officers had used force to disperse the protests.

[9] Two months after the protests in Shifang, residents told the New York Times that there were no signs that the Sichuan Hongda project was being resuscitated, and that the city had been quiet since the demonstrations concluded.

[13] After the demonstrations, authorities were left to grapple with providing housing and compensation to approximately 2,300 villagers whose land had been requisitioned to make room for the copper plant.

[15] Leslie Hook of the Financial Times wrote that the protests "revealed a potentially important shift in the country's politics: youth were at the forefront of the three-day demonstration, exposing a new vein of activism in a generation seen by many as apathetic."

[16] Stanley Lubman wrote for the Wall Street Journal that "the protests may augur both a growing public anger over environmental degradation and a rise of political activism among China's younger generation – trends that could lead in turn to an increase in legal challenges to the arbitrary behavior of local governments.

"[16] Alarmed by the participation of students in the demonstration, the Chinese Communist Party tabloid Global Times newspaper ran an editorial exhorting young people to stay out of mass protests and political conflicts, and chastised adults who encouraged such behavior.

The editorial was met with some derision on Chinese social media websites; one netizen responded by drawing attention to images of young school children being organized to participate in political rallies supporting the ruling Communist Party.

On 3 July, for instance, the official media outlets People's Daily and Xinhua News Agency carried minimal reports on either the protests or the local government's promise to halt construction of the copper smelting plant.

[19][20] The Atlantic's Jessica Levine wrote that the image was "representative of a growing resentment toward alleged abuses by the People's Armed Police," noting that such memes can serve as a barometer of culture in an environment where freedom of speech is limited.

"Because of the strictures on speech in China, memes tend to be a really effective way to spread a political message," said social media expert and blogger An Xiao Mina.