5 killed, 50 injured in the fatal shooting by the security forces
Thousands of protestors in northern Bangladesh went on a rampage Monday morning torching buildings linked to a British coal mining firm after the fatal shooting of at least five people, protesting against an open-pit mine in the region. The demonstrators set on fire to the house of an official employed by the London based Asia Energy PLC, which is
developing a coal deposit north of the capital and plans to invest $ 1.4 billion in this project. The angry people also set on fire 4 other buildings in the town of Phulbari, 350 kilometers north of Dhaka.
The company’s information centre and the temporary residence of one of its geologists had been ransacked and furniture dragged outside and set alight. The local police chief Fazlul Haq describe the situation in these words “The protesters have completely gone out of control. They set fire to one Asia Energy official’s residence in the Phulbari town. It is complete chaos out there. The mob is raiding homes of people who had earlier collaborated with the company. They were around 20000 marching on the main roads and there were only 300 securities personal to guard at the company offices”.
The people of this area has been protesting against the open-pit mine project because nearly 100000(one hundred thousand) people will be displaced and many local communities will wipe out as the result of this project. The whole environment of this area will be damaged. The organizer of these protests Khurshid Ali Moti said “ Our protest campaign will continue for an indefinite period until the company packs up and leaves the place for good. We will no allow any thing that will make our villages a complete wasteland. They want to rob us; they want our land for nothing. They have killed our brothers. They will have to leave the area or they face the consequences”.
The killing of 5 people sparked the wide spread anger among the local communities. The paramilitary forces called Bangladesh Rifles opened fire at the demonstrators. 50 people got injured and 10 critically on Saturday.
One protester said “the government has no respect for us, so we also have no respect for the government and their foreign friends. This is not ordinary struggle, but it’s a life and death question for us”.