Women protesters in G Bissau torch Chinese-run mine

BISSAU: Women protesters in Guinea-Bissau on Sunday attacked a Chinese-run site in the northwest of the country mining zircon, setting fire to equipment, the interior minister and witnesses told AFP.

One protester told AFP they had acted after the authorities failed to act on their complaints that the activity was damaging their farms and ruining the local environment.

Several women and a village leader were arrested following the protest at Nhiquin, near the resort town of Valera not far from the border with Senegal, witnesses told AFP.

They said several hundred women were involved in the protest at the site, which Chinese companies have been working since 2022.

“All the facilities have been burned down,” Interior Minister Botche Cande told reporters after visiting the site, without specifying what exactly had been destroyed.

“When the state makes an effort to find partners, nobody has the right to destroy their property,” he added, visibly irritated. Cande said he would be sending more guards to the site to guarantee its security while it was rebuilt.

The women responsible had all fled and taken shelter in the forest, he added. “They must be tracked down and arrested.” “It´s unacceptable that people do such things and everything goes on as if nothing happened,” he said.

Edmundo Infanda, sub-prefect of Suzana, which takes in Nhiquin, said a lot of women had taken part in the protest and the local police could not stop their demonstration.