(RSF/IFEX) – RSF has denounced the Orissa state police’s violent assault on documentary filmmaker Vinod Raja on 25 May 2005 while he was filming a peaceful demonstration in Tikiri (eastern Kashipur region) by members of local indigenous communities opposed to the installation of a Canadian bauxite plant. The organisation said it deplored the use of […]
(RSF/IFEX) – RSF has denounced the Orissa state police’s violent assault on documentary filmmaker Vinod Raja on 25 May 2005 while he was filming a peaceful demonstration in Tikiri (eastern Kashipur region) by members of local indigenous communities opposed to the installation of a Canadian bauxite plant.
The organisation said it deplored the use of police violence to protect the interests of a foreign company and urged the Indian authorities to punish those who attacked Raja and to compensate him for the destruction of his camera.
The demonstration was held to protest previous police violence against those who oppose the proposed plant. The protesters left Kuchepadhar at noon (local time). At around 4:00 p.m., they reached the outskirts of Tikiri, where they found the road blocked by anti-riot police.
Raja was filming the roadblock when eight policemen rushed at him and tried to take away his camera. After a struggle lasting several minutes, the police seized his camera, threw it to the ground and kicked it to pieces.
For the past 13 years, the proposed installation of a bauxite plant worth more than US$1 billion, by Canadian consortium Utkal Alumina & Alcan, has been opposed by local indigenous communities, on the grounds that they would lose their lands and be displaced.
