Riot police move in to end Myanmar copper mine protest
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A severely burnt Buddhist monk receives treatment at a hospital after police fired water cannon and gas during a pre-dawn crackdown on villagers and monks protesting against a Chinese-backed copper mine, in Monywa northern Myanmar on Nov 29, 2012. -- PHOTO: AFP
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Devotees pray at a Buddhist shrine that is schedule to be dismantled for the expansion of the Letpadaung mine in Monywa town, north-western Myanmar, on Wednesday, Nov 28, 2012. Riot police fired water cannon and tear gas early on Thursday to disperse people protesting against the forced eviction of villagers in north-western Myanmar to make way for a copper mine expansion, residents and activists said. -- PHOTO: AP
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A group of protesting villages who has blocked a road with rocks and wood guard their position in Letpadaung mine, Monywa town shop, north-western Myanmar, on Wednesday, Nov 28, 2012. -- PHOTO: AP
A severely burnt Buddhist monk receives treatment at a hospital after police fired water cannon and gas during a pre-dawn crackdown on villagers and monks protesting against a Chinese-backed copper mine, in Monywa northern Myanmar on Nov 29, 2012. -- PHOTO: AFP
Devotees pray at a Buddhist shrine that is schedule to be dismantled for the expansion of the Letpadaung mine in Monywa town, north-western Myanmar, on Wednesday, Nov 28, 2012. Riot police fired water cannon and tear gas early on Thursday to disperse people protesting against the forced eviction of villagers in north-western Myanmar to make way for a copper mine expansion, residents and activists said. -- PHOTO: AP
A group of protesting villages who has blocked a road with rocks and wood guard their position in Letpadaung mine, Monywa town shop, north-western Myanmar, on Wednesday, Nov 28, 2012. -- PHOTO: AP
YANGON (REUTERS) – Riot police fired water cannon and tear gas on Thursday to break up a three-month protest against a vast copper mining project run by the powerful Myanmar military and its partner, a subsidiary of a Chinese arms manufacturer.
Activists said at least 50 people had been injured and 23 were in hospital, some suffering burns after incendiary devices were hurled into their camps by police. Media described the devices as “phosphorous bombs”.
Witnesses said truckloads of police arrived at six camps near the mine in the Sagaing region in Myanmar’s north-west, where thousands have demonstrated against a US$1 billion (S$1.23 billion) expansion of the project and what they call the unlawful confiscation of more than 3,160ha of land.
Security forces began using water cannon and other weapons from about 3 am local time, Shin Oattama, a Buddhist monk who had helped the villagers, told Reuters by telephone. “They shot some sort of canisters that caused fire at the camp,” he said.