Reuters reported that police in Myanmar have arrested 6 leaders of the latest protest against the planned expansion of a Chinese run copper mine with opposition leader Mr Aung San Suu Kyi planning to visit the area to hear grievances.
In September, thousands of villagers near the Monywa mine in northwest Myanmar protested against the USD 1 billion expansion project taking advantage of new if fragile freedoms granted since the end of military rule last year.
The villagers say that under the project in the Sagaing region more than 7,800 acres of land have been unlawfully confiscated. In the latest protest activists led a demonstration in the commercial capital, Yangon to highlight the plight of villagers and were arrested the next day.
Activist Win Cho said that "They were taken to Insein Central Prison yesterday and charged with creating public mischief. The hearing was adjourned to December 3rd 2012."
The Home Ministry said that protesters at 6 camps at the site had to leave by midnight so that a parliamentary commission could carry out an investigation. All project work had been halted since November 18th 2012 because of those protests.
