China petrochemical plant starts shutdown procedure: report

BEIJING (Reuters) - A petrochemical plant in the northeast Chinese city of Dalian, ordered to shut down after large-scale public protests over the weekend, has begun "stop-production" procedures, state media said on Tuesday, citing officials.

Although the order to stop production was issued on Sunday by local authorities, the details of the production cycle meant that it could not stop immediately due to safety concerns, Xinhua said, citing Dalian government authorities as saying.

(Reporting by Suilee Wee and Chen Aizhu; Editing by Ken Wills)