“Thousands of Vietnamese Protest at Formosa Steel Plant in Ha Tinh”, 3 Oct 2016

Thousands of demonstrators converged on a Taiwanese steel factory in Vietnam's central province of Ha Tinh…to press claims over a major toxic spill in April that killed tons of fish and devastated the local economy.

The protest followed the launch last month of some 500 individual lawsuits demanding compensation from Ha Tinh provinces Formosa Plastics Group for a toxic chemical spill that put thousands of fishermen and fish processing workers out of work and drew sharp criticism of Vietnam's government for a slow reaction…

In June, the Formosa Plastics Group steel plant acknowledged it was responsible for the release of toxic chemicals in April that killed an estimated 115 tons of fish and left fishermen and tourism industry workers jobless in Ha Tinh and three other central provinces.

Vietnam's government said in a report to the National Assembly in July that the disaster had harmed the livelihoods of more than 200,000 people, including 41,000 fishermen…