Video Shows Frenzied Clash at Protest Over Plan to Build Massive Copper Mine in Peru

[Judi Lynn]

Video Shows Frenzied Clash at Protest Over Plan to Build Massive Copper Mine in Peru

By Purvi Thacker
May 23, 2015 | 12:13 pm

Clashes between police and protestors demonstrating against a $1.4 billion copper mining project in southern Peru erupted Friday, leaving one person dead and at least seven others injured, and prompting the government to declare a state of emergency.

Video from Peru's Islay province shows police using slingshots to launch stones at frenzied protesters, who respond by hurling rocks back at the cops. Tear gas was also fired during the confrontation, and the footage contains graphic images of a man on ground with severe injuries to his head and face.

The dead man was identified as 55-year-old Ramon Colque. A local news report quoted Colque's nephew as saying he held Peru's interior minister responsible for the death of his uncle, who he said was hit by a bullet while selling stuffed potatoes at the demonstration.

Demonstrations against the Tía María copper mining project in Peru, the world's third-biggest copper producer, have been going on for the past few months, forcing Grupo Mexico, owned by Mexican mining billionaire German Larrea Mota Velasco, to call for a two-month truce. Three other people have reportedly been killed and more than 200 others wounded in clashes between authorities and protesters.

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Unions representing workers in the US, Canada, and Mexico offered support for the Peruvian protesters in a statement issued Monday. The union leaders said they "condemn the brutal military repression directed by the Peruvian government and Grupo Mexico/Southern Copper against the people of Arequipa who oppose the Tía María project."

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