China has ordered the closure of a solar panel factory in the east of the country after hundreds of local residents staged violent protests over pollution, authorities said Monday.

The closure of the plant, which manufactures solar panels for the US-listed company Jinko Solar, follows the shut-down of a chemical factory in northeastern China after some 12,000 residents took to the streets over pollution fears.

The swift decision to close the plant demonstrates official concern over mounting public anger about pollution in China, where an emphasis on economic growth in recent decades has led to widespread environmental degradation.

The protesters broke into the factory in Zhejiang province's Haining city, ransacking offices and overturning vehicles before being forced back by police in a three-day protest that began on Thursday, according to state media reports.

They were demanding an explanation for the death of large numbers of fish in a nearby river, the official Xinhua news agency said.

Haining's city government said Monday tests had showed the factory was emitting excessive levels of fluoride, which can be toxic in high doses, as it announced the plant's closure.

"(We) ordered the company to halt production and overhaul the production procedures that involve emission of waste gas and waste water," it said in a statement.

"(We will) go all out to maintain stability and seriously deal with those who are suspected of violating laws in the incident in accordance with the law."

The city government also said police had detained a man for spreading "rumours" on the Internet about the number of sufferers of leukaemia and other cancers living near the plant.

Jinko Solar, which is listed on the New York Stock Exchange, has more than 10,000 employees in plants in Jiangxi and Zhejiang provinces, according to its website.

The company's chief financial officer Zhang Longgen said waste containing fluoride had been stored outside the factory and polluted a nearby river after heavy rains in late August.

"It was an accident. The waste stacks were not taken away on time," Zhang told AFP by telephone, adding that the company would pay damages to villagers. "There is no need to overreact," he added.

Chinese authorities have repeatedly voiced concerns about the role of online social networks as citizens increasingly turn to the Internet to vent their anger in a country where authorities maintain a tight grip on traditional media.

China, which has the world's largest online population with 485 million users, constantly strives to exert its control over the Internet, blocking content it deems politically sensitive as part of a vast censorship system.

But the huge and rising popularity of weibos -- microblogs similar to Twitter that have taken China by storm since they first launched two years ago -- has posed a major challenge to the censors.

In July, a high-speed train crash in Zhejiang province that killed at least 40 people sparked an outpouring of public fury on social networking sites, where thousands demanded to know why more care had not been taken over safety.

A blogger living near the accident site in the eastern city of Wenzhou is widely believed to have broken the news of the crash, while millions of others kept up a steady barrage of criticism in the days that followed.

Bloggers were also thought to have orchestrated the largely peaceful protest against a chemical plant in the northeastern city of Dalian, although posts and photographs were swiftly removed from the Internet after the demonstration.

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