{"id":1814,"date":"2018-06-05T16:02:03","date_gmt":"2018-06-05T16:02:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/southandcentralasiablog\/?p=1814"},"modified":"2018-06-05T16:02:03","modified_gmt":"2018-06-05T16:02:03","slug":"police-in-south-india-accused-of-mass-murder-after-shooting-dead-protesters","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/southandcentralasiablog\/2018\/06\/05\/police-in-south-india-accused-of-mass-murder-after-shooting-dead-protesters\/","title":{"rendered":"Police in south India accused of mass murder after shooting dead protesters"},"content":{"rendered":"

Another person has been shot dead during violent protests in south India<\/a>against a copper plant operated by a British mining giant residents say is polluting the local environment.<\/p>\n

Opposition politicians in the state of Tamil Nadu have accused the police of committing mass murder against protesters opposed to the expansion of a copper smelting facility in the port city of Thoothukudi.<\/p>\n

Ten people were shot dead and about 80 wounded by police after crowds set fire to cars and pelted officers with stones on Tuesday. Another man, identified by Indian media as a 23-year-old named Kaliappan, was killed in further protests on Wednesday.<\/p>\n

The Madras high court ordered a halt to the expansion of the 400,000-tonne facility in response to the unrest, and ordered authorities to hold public hearings before granting environmental approval to the construction.<\/p>\n

The smelter, operated by an Indian subsidiary of London-based Vedanta Resources, has been repeatedly shut down over pollution complaints and was fined \u00a310m in 2013 for breaching environmental norms and operating without the consent of the state pollution board.<\/p>\n

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The same year, activists allege a gas leak from the plant left hundreds with breathing difficulties, nausea and throat infections.<\/p>\n

Residents and environmentalists have been protesting for the past three months against plans to double the capacity of the copper plant that they say is contaminating the air and fisheries around the site.<\/p>\n

Sterlite Copper, the Indian subsidiary that owns the plant, says the facility operates \u201cwithin all the specified parameters\u201d and blamed the unrest<\/a> on \u201cnefarious elements\u201d.<\/p>\n

Outrage over the police killings grew on Wednesday, and was fuelled by a video<\/a> showing a plainclothes police officer boarding a bus and firing his rifle at protesters. A voice could be heard in the background saying: \u201cAt least one should die.\u201d<\/p>\n

MK Stalin, leader of the main Tamil Nadu opposition party, the DMK, said police were guilty of atrocities.<\/p>\n