GUANGZHOU, China, Nov. 12 (UPI) -- About 200 suppliers to a supermarket chain in Guangzhou, China, protested in the streets Thursday to draw attention to the company's failure to pay its bills.
The Jiayi supermarket chain is in debt nearly $30 million to its suppliers, most of whom haven't been paid for six months. Checks issued by the company had bounced, one supplier said, according to the South China Morning Post Friday.
The suppliers feared that Jiayi would default on its payments after some of the shareholders suggested liquidating the chain, the report said. When the shareholders failed to show up for a police-mediated meeting Wednesday, the angry suppliers took to the streets.
Song Yuping, a supplier of mushrooms and dried squid who is owed about $142,000 by Jiayi, said one of her creditors had abducted her 11-year-old daughter Tuesday after repeated demands for payment. He threatened to sell the girl if he were not paid.
Protests and public demonstrations are becoming increasingly common across China as people have no effective means of redressing such wrongs.
