Andreea Pocotila
|
Six Greenpeace activists from Romania,
Austria, and Hungary yesterday tied themselves to the Environment Ministry's
building with chains, protesting against the Rosia Montana mining
project.
The protesters arrived at the ministry in the morning and
in only a few minutes tied themselves with chains to the building, wearing
yellow T-shirts reading "Save Rosia Montana." They did not shout any slogans;
they did not say a word. They only hung on the ministry's entrance door a
message reading "Closed for Inactivity" and formed a human chain in front of the
building.
"We want to cause an alarm and to show that we can be more firm,"
said one of the activists chained to the building, Natalia Dorca, to answer a
question from the journalists. "This is a clear case of inactivity," said her
colleague, Cornel Ziman referring to the reason for protests - that Environment
Minister Sulfina Barbu has not suspended the illegal procedure of environment
impact assessment for the mining project in Rosia Montana that the Toronto-based
company Gabriel Resources has planned.
About 15 minutes later, a ministry's
representative came down and asked the protesters if they had an authorization.
The communication was not trouble-free, as General Secretary Ion Anghel could
not speak English and Greenpeace press officer Herwig Schuster could not speak
Romanian. Nevertheless, Anghel did understand that the protest was not
authorized by City Hall.
"They are hindering the entrance in the ministry.
The procedure says I have to call the gendarmes," Anghel said. And so he did.
In 20 minutes, five sturdy gendarmes arrived at the scene. However, they
soon changed their mind when they saw the situation and the dozen of journalists
present and turned back. They came back later with enforcements. About a dozen
of gendarmes tried to peacefully end the protest by talking to representatives
of both the ministry and the NGO. They then ID-ed the protesters and told them
to leave.
When the response was negative, the unwavering gendarmes resorted
to force, pulling the activists away from the building, despite the fact that
they were tied with chains. They even took out handcuffs and tried to put them
on the activists' hands, but with no luck. The chains were again in the way and
the young activists were determined to stay.
The gendarmes did not give up.
They tried to remove the ends of the chains from where they were hung by pulling
them, but no luck here, either, as the chains had strong locks. Eventually, one
of the gendarmes came up with the idea to cut the chains and they finally
managed to drag protesters one by one, despite their resistance and yelling.
"They are not gentlemen at all," said Greenpeace coordinator campaign Herwig
Schuster while two gendarmes were pulling a girl by her back, despite her
complaints that they were hurting her.
When asked if he asked for such
violent intervention to be used for the protest to be stopped, the ministry's
official response was that he did not ask gendarmes to act this way. "But the
activists are here illegally, aren't they?" Anghel quickly added.
Greenpeace determined to continue protests
"We cannot accept that Romania develops an illegal
process of authorization for these mining projects that uses cyanide," said
Schuster.
The mining project has raised scandal and controversy over the
last six years, as many locals and non-governmental organizations have opposed
the project, rejecting the company's arguments that the venture will create
hundreds of working places and will improve the poor environmental conditions.
The main opponent of the project, the Rosia Montana-rooted Alburnus Maior
non-governmental organization, has fought the mining project and has sued
Gabriel Resources many times trying to stop their plan.
Alburnus Maior's
juridical counselor, Eugenia Simion, was present at the protest, but said her
organization did not take part in the protest.
"It is not illegal to organize
a protest in a public place," she said, adding that the only thing the
protesters might be fined for is that they are blocking the ministry's
entrance.
Journalist Stephanie Roth, a 34-year-old French citizen and
volunteer with Alburnus Maior is another foe of Gabriel Resources' project who
yesterday attended the Greenpeace protest.
"I am glad to see that the civil
society in Romania gets involved in things that matter. This ministry should
have been closed for inactivity long ago," said Roth, who was awarded one of six
2005 Goldman Environmental Prizes for her fight for the Rosia Montana cause. She
donated her 125,000 dollar prize to fund the campaign against the mining
project.
Last week Greenpeace organized another protest in front of the
ministry, this time with authorization and with no similar incidents. Back then
they asked Barbu for a response to their request for the EIA to be suspended,
the official refused to make any comment. "I will not make any statements before
the EIA public debates are over," Barbu said two weeks ago.
The Environment
Impact Assessment was put together by Gabriel Resources, as the law required the
company to analyze the effects of their proposed mining project on an
environmental, social and archeological level.
The EIA was sent to the
ministry and approved. Next week public debates will be held before it is sent
to the government.
"We are waiting with interest to receive any kind of
comments, to answer questions and to discuss any problem that is raised by the
interested public regarding our project," said Gabriel Resources president Alan
Hill last month, adding that his company hopes for a constructive dialogue to
take place.
"We appreciate the openness and transparency, the will of
involvement in the discussions regarding what we want to be a mining project
carried out in Romania at international standards," Hill said.
However,
Greenpeace says the EIA is against the law and should not have been green
lighted by the ministry.
"Greenpeace criticizes the current environment
policy in Romania. Even if Ms. Barbu declares in the ministry's nice brochure
that 'Terra's gifts are not endless,' she supports the mining project in Rosia
Montana, considered by ecologists one of the most problematic initiatives in
Central and Eastern Europe," said the Greenpeace's release.
The conflict in
Rosia Montana goes on and seems even more tense as neither the mining company
nor the activists fighting against the project seem willing to soften their
position.
The fury escalated in 1997, when Gabriel Resources obtained the
rights to take the impressive 330 tons of gold and 1,600 tons of silver out. But
the local community has to pay a high price for the gold treasure that seems to
have sealed the fate of their village. The 20-year mining project is to displace
an estimated 2,000 people, level four mountains, demolish 900 houses, six
churches and cemeteries, as well as the network of underground mines dating from
Roman times.
Copyright © 2004-2006 Bucharest Daily News
An aristocratic title is not enough to ensure a noble behaviour. A person's greatness comes from acknowledging the mistakes and agreeing to correct them.
"When the power of love overcomes the love of power, the world will know peace." (Jimi Hendrix)
*** sustineti [romania_eu_list] prin 2% din impozitul pe 2005 - detalii la http://www.doilasuta.ro ***
| American politics | Dvd region free | Region free dvd player |
| Region free dvd | Region mortgage company | Region code free dvd player |
YAHOO! GROUPS LINKS
- Visit your group "romania_eu_list" on the web.
- To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
- Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to the Yahoo! Terms of Service.
