Hundreds court arrest to protest Posco
June 6th, 2011 - 2:50 pm ICT by IANSBhubaneswar, June 6 (IANS) Nearly 500 people, comprising activists and leaders of five political parties, held a demonstration here Monday and courted arrest to protest forcible land acquisition for a steel project by South Korean major Posco, a protest leader said.
The activists came in a procession here carrying posters and banners and shouted slogans against the Biju Janata Dal government. They also held a meeting near the state assembly premises.
“Around 1,000 people participated in the demonstration,” Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) leader Dusmanta Das told IANS.
At least 500 people courted arrest after they tried to intrude into the nearby prohibitory area, he said.
The political leaders who courted arrest belonged to the Communist Party of India (CPI), Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M), Forward Bloc, Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) and the Samajwadi Party.
“We were opposing forcible land acquisition for Posco project. We also demanded the shifting of the project site to another area,” Das said.
Posco had signed a pact with the state government in 2005 for a 12 million tonne steel plant — the largest foreign investment in India near the port town of Paradip, about 120 km from state capital Bhubaneswar.
The company requires about 4,004 acres of land for the project out of which 2,900 acres is forest land.
The activists were angry as the government acquired some land earlier this month despite opposition from the landholders.
- Hundreds court arrest to protest Posco (Lead) - Jun 06, 2011
- Posco land takeover to resume Saturday, protest intensifies (Lead) - Jun 17, 2011
- Anti-Posco stir hots up in Orissa - Jun 11, 2011
- Naveen Patnaik to talk with anti-POSCO leaders - Jun 12, 2010
- Political parties to support anti-POSCO movement - Mar 01, 2011
- Anti-Posco agitators held, released - Jun 03, 2011
- Jairam seeks peaceful land acquisition for Posco - Jun 12, 2011
- Survey work for POSCO starts amid protest - May 25, 2010
- Agnivesh joins Posco land acquisition opposition (Lead) - Jun 18, 2011
- Villagers protest Orissa plan to renew POSCO pact (Lead) - Jun 22, 2010
- Medha Patkar joins Anti-Posco protest - Jun 20, 2011
- Rains halt Posco land acquisition - Jun 17, 2011
- Arrest of anti-Posco leader triggers tension - Nov 27, 2011
- CPI-M plans agitation against land acquisition act - Apr 22, 2011
- Anti-POSCO leader held - Nov 26, 2011
Tags: bhubaneswar, biju, communist party of india, communist party of india marxist, CPI, foreign investment, forest land, forward bloc, land acquisition, paradip, political leaders, posco, procession, protest leader, rjd, Samajwadi Party, slogans, state assembly, steel plant, steel project