Authorities in north China's Hebei Province fired the Party boss of a local textile factory after more than 1,000 workers went on a protest march over privatization, job cuts and other grievances.

The decision to remove Wang Lijuan from the position of Party secretary of the Yimian Group, was read out by Lan Baoliang, head of the organization department of the Baoding City Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC), at a workers rally Saturday morning.

Wang was replaced by Zhang Yanru, chief of the Baoding City State Assets Commission. The board of directors also suspended her jobs as its the chairwoman.

More than 1,000 workers of the group began a 140-kilometer hike Friday from Baoding city to Beijing to protest the malpractices of the management.

The workers were stopped by government officials near Xushui county. All of them returned to Baoding early Saturday aboard buses at the persuasion of government officials.

(Xinhua News Agency April 4, 2009)