Riot police quell Myanmar mine protest

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”.

After decades of oppression, the Monywa mine has become a test of Myanmar’s reforms as protesters explore new-found freedoms, including a relaxation of laws on protests since July. It also illustrates growing resentment towards Chinese companies that have expanded across the country in recent years.

Witnesses said truckloads of police arrived at six camps near the mine in the Sagaing region in Myanmar’s northwest, where thousands have demonstrated against a US$1 billion expansion of the project and what they call the unlawful confiscation of more than 7,800 acres (3,160 hectares) of land.

Security forces began using water cannon and other weapons from about 3am, Shin Oattama, a Buddhist monk who had helped the villagers, told reporters by telephone. “They shot some sort of canisters that caused fire at the camp,” he said.

Myo Thant, a political activist, said 22 monks were wounded in a crackdown in which some officers fired incendiary devices against protesters. “The stuff from these canisters got caught on the clothes and bodies of the victims. When they shook their robes to remove this stuff, fire started.”