A protest against a US$2.4 billion Chinese-backed power plant in Bangladesh turned violent, killing one person and injuring about a dozen, risking delay to a project seen as a symbol of warming ties between the two nations.
The coal-fired plant being built 265km southeast of the capital, Dhaka, is a major draw for foreign investment in Bangladesh and is expected to begin power generation by the end of 2019.
Police said security forces were guarding the site yesterday to prevent disruption to construction work that villagers fear will force several evictions, disturb graveyards where relatives are buried and damage the environment.
“There is an uneasy situation, and police are patrolling the area to avoid any further clashes,” Banshkhali police station official Alamgir Hussain said.
Protesters were chanting slogans on Wednesday when project supporters attacked them, said Nurul Mostafa, a leader of the group that wants the plant shifted.
About a dozen people were injured in the clashes. A similar protest last year led to the deaths of four demonstrators, halting work on the plant.
Such protests risk delaying the project and hamper fundraising efforts, said a senior official of conglomerate S Alam Group, which has a deal with China’s SEPCOIII Electric Power Construction Corp to build the 1,320 megawatt plant.
“We hope to resolve the problem soon, otherwise we may not be able to finish our project in time,” said the official, who declined to be identified because he is not authorized to speak to the media.
Chinese banks are expected to provide 70 percent of the projected investment, he added.
The plant would use the “most sophisticated technology” to reduce its environmental impact, said S Alam chairman Masud Alam, who offered to help with medical treatment for the injured.
Late last year, China signed 27 pacts worth billions of US dollars with the south Asian nation, as it steps up a competition with India to build regional influence.
It is also seeking to boost investment in another of India’s neighbors, Sri Lanka.
‘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
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
RIVER TRAGEDY: Local fishers and residents helped rescue people after the vessel capsized, while motorbike taxis evacuated some of the injured At least 58 people going to a funeral died after their overloaded river boat capsized in the Central African Republic’s (CAR) capital, Bangui, the head of civil protection said on Saturday. “We were able to extract 58 lifeless bodies,” Thomas Djimasse told Radio Guira. “We don’t know the total number of people who are underwater. According to witnesses and videos on social media, the wooden boat was carrying more than 300 people — some standing and others perched on wooden structures — when it sank on the Mpoko River on Friday. The vessel was heading to the funeral of a village chief in