Several dozen indigenous Panamanians armed with spears, sticks and stones clashed with riot police on Friday, disrupting traffic on the Pan-American Highway to protest recent changes to the country’s mining law.
Authorities said several police were wounded when the protest on the outskirts of Panama City turned ugly as they tried to clear the way for traffic across a bridge that had been occupied since dawn by members of the Ngobe-Bugle ethnic group.
Aboriginal groups have complained that the reformed law — untouched since the 1960s — would spoil pristine rainforest areas and force Indian communities to relocate.
Photo: AFP
Protesters confronted authorities with spears, arrows, shells and rocks. About 200 police responded with tear gas, causing panic and a brief stampede of onlookers nearby.
“We have been blocking the bridge and the police are attacking us,” one man said when he was arrested near the Pacora River as he tried to escape a police barricade.
“We voted for [Panamanian President Ricardo] Martinelli, but here God has to do something because we need justice,” he said.
Metropolitan Police Chief Jose Castillo confirmed that several police officers were slightly wounded in the confrontation and that seven people had been arrested “for verification” purposes.
Lawmakers last week approved the legislation aimed at attracting foreign investment to its mining industry, despite opposition from students and Aboriginal groups.
Martinelli and his supporters in the national assembly argue that mining could be Panama’s second largest source of income after fees from the Panama Canal. It becomes law with Martinelli’s signature.
The government recently opened for tenders a copper deposit in Cerro Colorado, in Ngobe-Bugle territory.
Experts believe there are 17 million tonnes of copper at the site, equivalent to three years of copper production in Chile, the world’s largest copper producer.
Companies based in Canada, South Korea and Singapore have shown interest in investing.
Martinelli went on TV to insist that “no mining concession or exploitation will be made in a district in any area” of Aboriginal lands.
“Do not be fooled by people who want to take political advantage of this, and cause chaos and unrest,” he added.
At least eight people were injured on Tuesday when riot police clashed with students opposing the proposed changes.
On Monday, police fired tear gas and rubber bullets on hundreds of Aborigines protesting in the southwestern town of San Felix. Nineteen people were arrested.
Last summer, protests against a similar proposal caused two deaths and 100 injuries, after which the plan was shelved.
‘IN A DIFFERENT PLACE’: The envoy first visited Shanghai, where he attended a Chinese basketball playoff match, and is to meet top officials in Beijing tomorrow US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday arrived in China on his second visit in a year as the US ramps up pressure on its rival over its support for Russia while also seeking to manage tensions with Beijing. The US diplomat tomorrow is to meet China’s top brass in Beijing, where he is also expected to plead for restraint as Taiwan inaugurates president-elect William Lai (賴清德), and to raise US concerns on Chinese trade practices. However, Blinken is also seeking to stabilize ties, with tensions between the world’s two largest economies easing since his previous visit in June last year. At the
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese