Women protesters in Guinea-Bissau on Sunday attacked a Chinese-run site in the northwest of the country mining zircon, setting fire to equipment, the interior minister and witnesses said.
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One protester said they had acted after the authorities failed to respond to their complaints that the activity was damaging their farms and ruining the local environment.
Several women and a village leader were arrested following the protest at Nhiquin, near the resort town of Valera not far from the border with Senegal, witnesses said.
They said several hundred women were involved in the protest at the site, which Chinese companies have been working since 2022.
All the facilities have been burned down
“All the facilities have been burned down,” Interior Minister Botche Cande told reporters after visiting the site, without specifying what exactly had been destroyed.
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“When the state makes an effort to find partners, nobody has the right to destroy their property,” he added, visibly irritated.