Madagascar: Fishermen & women protesting QMM mining clash with police, two spokepersons arrested and beaten in custody
"Madagascar: TWO ARRESTED AND ENCLOSED DEMONSTRATORS AT THE FORT-DAUPHIN TOLAGNARO GENDARMERIE", 01 November 2021
This Saturday, October 30, fishing communities from the villages bordering the Rio Tinto QMM mining site in Tolagnaro - Fort-Dolphin, came once again to defend their rights and means of subsistence and to demand action from the multinational corporation, and concrete compensation for the degradation of their living conditions caused by mining.
Law enforcement officials arrived and attempted to disperse the protesters. According to our sources, 4 people were injured and
a few people have passed out. We also learned of the arrest by the gendarmes of two spokespersons for the communities, the honorary president of the F.P.E. association, Eugène Chretien Ratovondrainy and the vice-president Simon Bedango Razafinandriana...
Family members of the arrested activists were not allowed to see them and, concerned about their conditions of detention and
their state of health, appointed a lawyer to represent them. On November 1, the lawyer found evidence of beatings and injuries on Eugène Chretien Ratovondrainy and asked the assistance of a doctor to treat and observe the lesions...
Eugène Chretien Ratovondrainy, former employee of Rio Tinto QMM, is an activist who has been campaigning for 7 years for workers in Rio Tinto QMM subcontractors and, in recent years, for communities impacted by the company's operations...