SHANTOU, Guangdong - A toll gate of an expressway in south China's Guangdong Province was reopened Saturday, a day after the ending of four-day protests over a planned power plant expansion.

No protests were seen around the toll gate and on a nearby provincial-level road Saturday morning, but a nearby petrol station has not resumed operation.

Around 2,000 villagers from the fishing township of Haimen in the city of Shantou gathered near the expressway toll gate Friday, three days after villagers first gathered to protest the planned expansion of a coal-fired power plant by the Fengsheng Electricity Investment Company.

Villagers complained that the current power plant had led to a rise in the number of cancer patients, deterioration of the environment, and a drop in fishing hauls.

The government had said the project would be suspended.

But the protest turned violent and at least five people were detained by police on Wednesday for alleged vandalism.

Friday's crowd dispersed at about 6 pm after government officials promised to release detained villagers in accordance with the law.