Kerala port protesters storm police station
SECURITY INTENSIFIED AROUND VIZHINJAM AFTER 80 PEOPLE INJURED IN CLASH
POLICE in southern India on Tuesday (29) ramped up security around Vizhinjam port being built by billionaire Gautam Adani’s group after scores of people were injured during clashes with protesters from a fishing community over the weekend.
Construction at the mega $900-million (£749m) port project on the southern tip of India has been halted for more than three months after protesters – mostly Christian and led by Catholic priests – blocked the site’s entrance by erecting a 1,200-squarefoot shelter. They blame the port’s development for coastal erosion that has hit their livelihoods.
Late last Sunday (27), villagers stormed a police station to protest the arrest of some opponents to the project, and more than 80 people were injured during the clashes, including 36 police personnel, senior officer Ajith V told Reuters. Kerala state police were sending reinforcements to the Vizhinjam area to prevent further violence, he added.
“Additional personnel from neighbouring districts have been deployed. We are getting ready to face any situation,” he said.
Another state police officer, who declined to be named, said the number of personnel guarding the mega transhipment port had been increased to 400 from about 300 earlier.
Police last weekend arrested some protesters who blocked Adani’s construction vehicles from entering the port, despite a court order for work to resume.
The port is set to become India’s first container transhipment hub and is located around 6km from Kerala’s tourist hotspot of Kovalam, which is internationally renowned for its beaches. The Adani Group says the port complies with all laws and cited studies that show it is not linked to shoreline erosion. The state has also said any erosion was due to natural causes. Once completed, the port will vie with Dubai, Singapore and Sri Lanka for business on the lucrative East-West trade routes, making it of strategic importance for both India and Adani, who is Asia’s wealthiest man and the world’s third-richest.
The first phase of construction was due to be completed by December 2024, but the Adani Group has said in court filings the protests have caused “immense loss” and “considerable delay” to the project.
On Monday (28), the court heard Adani’s concerns again and asked the state administration why its order of ensuring that port construction continues was not being enforced. The judge asked state officials to file a response by Friday (2). (Reuters)