Hundreds of residents in China's southern city of Guangzhou protested outside government offices on Monday, opposing plans for a major garbage incinerator that they say will endanger their health and the environment.

Wen Yunchao, a prominent mainland blogger and rights activist, said more than 1,200 protesters had demanded the resignation of the city's deputy general secretary, Lu Zhiyi, during a large protest outside Guangzhou Municipal Government building.

He said the Panyu waste incineration plant, which will handle 2,000 tonnes of trash a day, might endanger the health of residents like a similar incinerator built near Guangzhou's Likeng village in 2005.

"The residents don't trust the government's guarantees after reports revealed that the incidence of cancer had risen dramatically in Likeng," Wen told Reuters by telephone.

Nearly 92% of residents believe the project will seriously harm their health and the environment, while more than 97% oppose construction of the plant, according a public opinion poll by the provincial social research and study centre in Guangdong province, China's manufacturing heartland.

The provincial capital, Guangzhou, has experienced serious environmental degradation after nearly three decades of break-neck development. Environmental activism, however, has grown in recent years as the city's burgeoning middle class pursue a higher quality of life.

In a recent case, a proposed multi-billion dollar oil refinery in the ecologically rich Nansha district just downstream from Guangzhou along the Pearl River, was relocated to a less populated area in western Guangdong after a major public uproar.

"We are here today to ask for transparency in policy decisions," said Lu, a local resident at the protest, who did not want to give his full name.

Another resident and blogger using the name King Bird, who recently submitted a petition paper to local authorities, said: "It is a very populated area, with many residential developments. Having bought flats there, we don't now want to get sick."

Despite widespread opposition to the Panyu incinerator, officials stressed at a meeting on Sunday that the waste incinerator was still the preferred option for dealing with the escalating waste demands of Panyu's 2.5 million residents.

Guangzhou officials, however, say no decision will be taken before an environmental assessment of the project is approved.