Breaking News – Sichuan farmers arrested for protests against coal mines
Farmers from Sangui Village in China’s Sichuan Province recently complained about the extensive coal mines opening in the area with a number of farmers revealing to SOH Radio that local coal mines have been illegally developed, and as a result, it has become impossible for farmers to continue living in the area.
The farmers explained that the shareholders of the coal mine company are local government officials, thus any attempt at petitioning is futile, and likely to end in detention.
So the farmers hope to expose the issue through international media and call for attention from the international community.
Ms Wang from Sangui village told reporters, the local coal mine has been illegally developed, which has lead to the complete destruction of the living environment for more than one thousand residents. Ms Wang said “The government has permitted them to mine coal from an underground layer, but in order to increase their profit, they mined from two more layers above. As soon as they did this, all the land began to crack, houses were split, and we also lost water supply.”
According to another resident, they have appealed to village and county government levels, with hopes to solve the water supply problems, and issues of split buildings. However, the government paid no attention, and the coal mine company directors refused to make any compensation.
Human rights advocate Xiaomin Huang from Sichuan Province revealed, due to the rise in coal value during recent years, the coal company mined without any consideration for others, which caused the village to become impossible to reside in, and lead to the violent conflicts near the end of 2007.
The above was brought to you by Lu Fang, Li Ming, hosted by (narrator) for Breaking News on Sound of Hope Radio Network.
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