"Two Detained in New Letpadaung Mine Protest in Myanmar", 29 March 2018

Myanmar police...detained two village women seeking to block eviction from their homes on land claimed by a controversial China-operated copper mine in the country’s Sagaing region....

The two women, Ma San Hla and Thwe Thwe Win, had blocked police vehicles entering Old Wet Hmay village, a settlement of 30 households marked for destruction to make way for the Letpadaung copper mine....

The Letpadaung copper mine, run jointly by China’s Wanbao company and a Myanmar-army owned conglomerate, Union of Myanmar Economic Holdings Ltd., has come under fire by local residents and farmers who have long protested the company’s land takeovers in the area.

Villagers have heavily criticized and staged protests against mine operators for expropriating land without providing them adequate compensation  and for damaging the environment.