More than 80 injured as Indian police clash with Adani port protesters - Reuters India

KOCHI, India Nov 28 (Reuters) - More than 80 radical were wounded successful confederate India arsenic villagers halting the operation of a $900 cardinal larboard clashed with police, the latest escalation of a months-old protestation waged by a mostly Christian sportfishing assemblage against Asia's richest man.

The protests are a large headache for Gautam Adani's $23 cardinal ports-and-logistics institution which has been forced to halt enactment connected the Vizhinjam seaport that is seen winning concern from rivals successful Dubai, Singapore and Sri Lanka.

Construction, however, has been halted for much than 3 months aft villagers blocked the entranceway of the site, blaming the larboard of causing coastal erosion and depriving them of their livelihoods.

Over the weekend, constabulary arrested respective protesters aft they blocked Adani's operation vehicles from entering the port, contempt a tribunal bid for enactment to resume.

The arrests prompted hundreds of protesters, led by Roman Catholic priests, to march connected the constabulary station, clash with unit and harm vehicles there, according to constabulary documents and footage connected section television.

Senior section constabulary authoritative M R Ajith Kumar told Reuters 36 officers were wounded successful the clashes. Joseph Johnson, 1 of the protestation leaders, said astatine slightest 46 protesters were besides hurt.

Located connected the confederate extremity of India, the larboard seeks to plug into lucrative East-West commercialized routes, adding to the planetary scope of the concern led by billionaire Adani, estimated by Forbes to beryllium the world's 3rd richest man.

Asked astir the latest protest, the Adani Group did not instantly comment. The institution has said that the larboard complies with each laws and cited studies that amusement it is not linked to shoreline erosion. The authorities authorities has besides said that immoderate erosion was owed to earthy causes.

FACTBOX - Major concern disputes successful India work much

The protests person continued contempt repeated orders by the Kerala state's apical tribunal to let operation to start. Police person mostly been unwilling to instrumentality immoderate action, fearful that doing truthful volition acceptable disconnected societal and spiritual tensions.

In the latest clashes, constabulary documents said the protesters "came with lethal weapons and barged into the presumption and held the constabulary hostage, threatening that if radical successful custody were not released they would acceptable the presumption connected fire." Eugine H. Pereira, the vicar wide of the archdiocese and a protestation leader, said the constabulary pelted the protesters with stones.

The larboard protests callback the backlash Adani faced successful Australia implicit his Carmichael ember mine. There, activists acrophobic astir c emissions and harm to the Great Barrier Reef forced Adani to downsize accumulation targets and delayed the mine's archetypal ember shipment by six years.

Writing by Aditya Kalra; Editing by Clarence Fernandez and Miral Fahmy

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