Demo over Bangladeshi Brit-backed mine

Demonstrators thronged the footpath outside an unassuming office block in Tower Hill as GCM Resources shareholders arrived for the company's annual general meeting.

Waving banners and "eviction notices," the protesters railed against GCM's plans to build a 60 square kilometre mining project in Phulbari, Dinajpur - the heart of Bangladesh's rice bowl region.

The company has sought to buy up more than 14,000 acres of land for the open-cast mine, which is expected to scour out up to 572 million tons of coal over the next four decades.

But protesters say that around 80 per cent of the site is arable farmland and warn that the mine will force an estimated 130,000 people to abandon their homes while 220,000 would lose access to safe drinking water.

Demonstrator Arif Rahman told the Morning Star that the protest had a lot in common with Occupy London Stock Exchange - mining's impact was "invisible" in London, but the capital was ultimately the global heart of the industry.

The London Stock Exchange listed four of the world's five biggest mining companies, he said.

Major backers for the Phulbari mine included British bank Barclays and London Capital Group.

"The mines aren't here but the finance is."

Mr Rahman said that the Phulbari mine would see a British company destroying traditional ways of life for hundreds of thousands of people in one of the world's poorest nations while giving the lion's share of the profits to its British backers.

"They'll be taking out 94 per cent of the profit, leaving 6 per cent for a developing country. The damage will be disastrous.

"It's a definite form of colonialism," he said.

Fellow protester Danesh Ahmed returned from a visit to family in Phulbari a few months ago.

He reported that locals "won't know where to go. They'll be begging."

But the people of Phulbari were determined, he said.

"People are ready to die before they give up their livelihoods."

For more information visit www.protectbdresources.org.uk

rorym@peoples-press.com