India’s Bhopal protest turns violent
India: Thousands of survivors of the world’s worst industrial
accident have blocked trains and clashed with police in India’s central
Madhya Pradesh state to demand more compensation.Police attacked the
protesters with sticks and tried to clear the railway tracks in Bhopal
city on Saturday, the Associated Press reported.
Protestors pelted police with stones and burnt four police jeeps and
several motorcycles in the skirmish that followed. Several people,
including a police superintendent, were injured in the scuffle.The
protesters shouted slogans like “We want compensation,” and said Indian
government accepted far too little in 1985 in a 470-million-dollar
settlement.
Indian government is seeking an additional 1.7 billion dollars for
victims of the Bhopal gas tragedy from the Dow Chemical Company.The
protest came on the 27th anniversary of the chemical disaster in Bhopal,
where a large volume of toxic gases leaked into environment following an
accident in Union Carbide pesticide plant.
The chemical disaster killed an estimated 15,000 people, and maimed
tens of thousands more.The Dow Chemical Company purchased the Union
Carbide Corporation in August 1999.Meanwhile, Bhopal activists and
survivors are calling for Dow Chemicals to be dropped as a sponsor of
the 2012 London Olympics.
At least 21 Indian Olympic athletes have urged the organizers of the
London Olympic Games to end Dow’s sponsorship.
Press TV |
