At least nine dead after police fire on protesters seeking closure of Indian copper smelter
At least nine dead after police fire on protesters seeking closure of Indian copper smelter
Published: 08:15 pm May 22, 2018
NEW DELHI: At least nine were killed on Tuesday after police fired at protesters calling for the closure of a Vedanta Resources-controlled copper smelter in southern India, a senior police official told Reuters. Residents of the port city of Thootukudi in Tamil Nadu state and environmentalists have been demonstrating against one of India’s biggest copper plants for more than three months, alleging it is a major source of pollution and a risk to fisheries. The latest protest turned violent as a crowd waving black flags stormed the district government headquarters and an apartment block for Vedanta employees, a company official said, declining to be named for fear of being targeted. Protesters set vehicles on fire and threw stones at police, prompting the police to open fire. “Nine people have been confirmed dead,” said police official Kapil Kumar Saratkar. The head of national opposition party Congress, Rahul Gandhi, slammed the authorities for use of deadly force. “The gunning down by the police of 9 people in ...Tamil Nadu, is a brutal example of state sponsored terrorism. These citizens were murdered for protesting against injustice. My thoughts & prayers are with the families of these martyrs and the injured,” Gandhi said in a tweet. Local TV showed police trying to disperse the crowd with tear gas and water cannons. Smoke rose from several parts of the sleepy port city near the tip of the Indian peninsula. State Minister D. Jayakumar in a televised address on Tuesday said police have fired on protesters and that it was “unavoidable”.