Yangon (AsiaNews / Agencies) - Early morning clashes between farmers and police in the area of Monywa have resulted wounded 10, including 7 policemen and 3 civilians. The demonstrations started yesterday and are against the owners of a local copper mine - acquired by a Chinese company and the Myanmar Economic Holdings, an industry in the hands of the Burmese military - which has expropriated agricultural land by force.
The tension in the area rose yesterday when about 100 farmers tried to sow the lands owned by the mine and were stopped by security forces. According to local sources, more than 400 police arrived in the area to prevent the inhabitants of 26 "rebel" villages from resuming agricultural activities. The three injured protesters are in the hospital, one of them was hit by a bullet in the leg.
The protests began last November, when the government forced local residents from about 3 thousand hectares of agricultural land near the mine. The compensation paid by the Chinese owners was considered inadequate by many villages, which started a sit-in protest that were were cleared by the use of force. Even white phosphorus was used - "unconventional" weapon prohibited by the UN - to "liberate" the area.
The opposition
leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, has conducted an investigation on the matter and
asked the farmers to "accept the compensation for their land." Her
report to Parliament on the November violence - presented last month - talks
about the use of phosphorus against demonstrators by the police and a
"violence unseen since the days of the military regime."
However, it also demands that the mining site "continue production "
and does not propose any punishment for the policemen involved in the violence.
The Nobel Peace Laureate, a prominent political figure usually venerated
throughout the country, was strongly criticized by the farmers, angered by her
recommendations not to interrupt the work of the copper mine.