11 dead after a protest against a polluting company in India
The protesters, residents of the city of Thoothukudi, in the state of Tamil Nadu, in southern India, has claimed for months the closure of a company accused of affecting the waters in the that Indian region. On Tuesday, the protest turned into a tragedy because the police shot people with the justification that they were defending themselves from the stones thrown by the rioters.
The news has dismayed the entire Asian country. Thousands of neighbors of the city of Thoothukudien, in the south of India, demanded for months the definitive closing of a metallurgical company accused of contaminating the waters of all the region. On Tuesday, May 22, around 20,000 people gathered to demand once again the definitive closure of the industrial plant of Sterlite Copper, a subsidiary of the Vedanta Mining Group, which specializes in copper smelting. However, the police of the region transformed the protest into a massacre. At least 11 protesters were killed and 20 injured, in addition to 15 other members of the police who were injured.
Edappadi K. Palaniswami, Head of Government of the district of Tamil Nadu, said that the Police had to intervene in an inescapable situation to protect their lives and the public property since the protesters resorted to violence. On the other hand, Rahul Gandhi, leader of the Congress Party, the main Indian opposition force, criticized the shooting, a fact that he described on his Twitter account as a brutal example of terrorism financed by the State. The activist alleged that the citizens were killed for protesting against injustice, at the same time he sent his condolences to the affected families.
The polluting plant that generated the protest produces annually up to 400,000 tons of copper, but it was closed for a period of 50 days (until June 6) as the local pollution regulatory authorities accused it of not complying with environmental regulations. It is worth noting that, in recent years, this plant has been sanctioned for the same reasons on several occasions.
Thousands of people have continued with the protests and some clashes have taken place, vehicles have been set on fire and protesters have thrown stones to the police. On the other hand, security forces have resorted to the use of riot gear.
The authorities maintain the curfew and have suspended Internet services in the district. On Wednesday, a court in Chennai, the regional capital, ordered the expansion of the plant to be halted, but that hasn’t prevented the protests from continuing.
