Bangladesh bows to protestors, cancels British coal mining project

The Bangladesh government said it has bowed to demands from protestors that it cancel a 1.4-billion dollar plan by London-based Asia Energy to build an open-pit coal mine.

“We have agreed to all the demands (of the protestors),” Asadul Habib Dulu, junior minister for food and relief, told AFP after almost a week of deadly demonstrations against the project.
“The first demand was that the government will have to cancel all its existing agreements with Asia Energy and we have agreed to that,” said Dulu, who led the government side in talks with protestors at Phulbari in northern Bangladesh late Wednesday.

“The second demand was that there will be no open-pit mining at Phulbari or elsewhere in the country,” he added.

Today Online