Myanmar protests over copper mine
YANGON: Hundreds of Myanmar villagers rallied on Saturday against a controversial Chinese-backed copper mine, activists said, reigniting a contentious issue that could pose an early challenge to Aung San Suu Kyi’s new government.
The Letpadaung mine in the central town of Monywa has for years been dogged by complaints of land-grabbing, environmental damage and brutal police crackdowns on protesters.
Growing numbers of villagers have gathered over the past four days in the first major anti-mine demonstration since Suu Kyi’s civilian administration took power this year, ending decades of military domination.
“Today we demanded our rights by showing up with over 200 local protesters,” Khin Lae, a protest leader, said.
“No one was hurt today. Yesterday there were some clashes between DHAKA: A local religious leader has been found hacked to death in Bangladesh in a suspected revenge killing, police said on Saturday, two weeks after the IS group claimed the murder of a liberal professor in the same northwestern district.
Mohammad Shahidullah, 65, had been missing since leaving home on Friday morning before villagers last night found protesters and the police,” she added. Winbao — the Chinese firm that his body in a pool of blood in a mango grove in Rajshahi.
It comes amid a troubling rise in violence against liberal activists and foreigners in Bangladesh, with six murders since the start of last month alone.
“He was not a famous Sufi. But there could be a possibility that he was killed by militants,” Rajshahi district police jointly runs the mine with a major Myanmar military conglomerate — said this year it aimed to start production in May after years of construction. Winbao was not immediately available for comment.
Another protest organiser, Amar Cho, said the demonstrations have swelled since Wednesday, as have the number of police dispatched to control the crowds.
Police sparked public outrage in 2012 when they moved to clear a protest camp near the mine using phosphorous canisters, leaving dozens with severe burn wounds, including several monks.
Suu Kyi led a parliamentary probe into that incident, which attracted the ire of activists after it recommended construction be allowed to proceed.
Protests have continued over the years and crackdowns have also spurred bouts of anti-China demonstrations in Yangon and other major cities. Chief Nisharul Arif said. The police officer said the killing of the self-proclaimed Sufi master was “similar” to other recent hacking deaths of religious minorities carried out by attackers with machetes or cleavers. The suspects have been blamed for or claimed dozens of murders of atheist bloggers, liberal voices and religious minorities in recent years. — AFP