[Reader-list] Statement for Endorsement about Police Lathicharge on Anti-POSCO Protesters Odisha

[asit das]

*(Please Endorse and forward to other Organisations and concerned
activists) ***

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*JOINT STATEMENT CONDEMNING ATTACK ON PEACEFUL PROTESTERS OF NUAGAON**

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*(Anti-POSCO Struggle Area Odisha)*


Today eight platoons of police attacked and lathi charged peaceful
protesters in the village of Nuagaon, Jagatsinghpur District, Odisha. The
protesters, despite being mainly women, were attacked by an entirely male
police force, resulting in injuries to several and serious injuries to one
woman, who has now been hospitalised. The protesters were seeking to protect
their forests and trees from being cleared by the police as part of the
government's land grab for the POSCO project. After the lathi charge the
entire village joined the protest, eventually driving the police back and
forcing them to retreat.

We strongly condemn this brutal attack on a peaceful protest by people
seeking to protect their legal and democratic rights. This attack disproves
the Odisha government's brazenly false claims that "no force is being used"
to take land for POSCO. Nuagaon, one must remember, is also one of the
villages where the government claimed that "land takeover is proceeding
peacefully" - a result not of consent by the people but of the overwhelming
threat of force from the government. Today, when people have actually shown
their will, the government has shown its true intent.

One must remember that the people of Nuagaon, like all those affected by the
POSCO project, have legal rights to their forest and also enjoy the legal
power to protect these forests when they wish. This was upheld by three
different committees of the Environment Ministry, which went on to, in an
act of brazen illegality, clear the takeover of land anyway. Both the Odisha
government and the Centre are engaged in a gross violation of law, a
resource grab of land and forests that belong to the people for a private
multinational company. This attack further comes at a time when the Odisha
High Court is hearing, on a daily basis, the petition filed by the villagers
against this illegal land grab.

We demand:

·  An immediate halt to all police operations in the proposed project area
and the withdrawal of the police from the area;

·  The cancellation of the illegal forest and environmental clearances
granted to the POSCO project;

·  The implementation of the Forest Rights Act and all other pro people laws
in the area;

·  Prosecution and punishment of the officials and police responsible for
the atrocities and violations of law in the area;

·  A cancellation of the POSCO project and an end to the six year long
attack on the people of the area for the purposes of this project.


Sincerely



Socialist Front



Dr. Sunilum (Kishan Sangarsh Samity M.P.),



INSAF



Shankar Gopal Krishnan



Asit Das (POSCO Pratirodh Solidarity Delhi)