Peaceful Protesters Beaten by Security Personnel in Sawarda
Sawarda, Northern State, April 3, 2017
Protesters in the village of Sawarda in Northern State were violently beaten at 3:00 am on Monday April 3, 2017 by the National Intelligence and Security Services (NISS). The attack seriously injured Mohammed Dawood Kanoon and he was transferred to Abri Hospital. The details of the incident go back to when NISS affiliates and some workers attempted to connect electrical power to the plant associated with the International Mining Company at night after it had been cut off. The village’s surveillance team was alerted to the move and resisted it in protest. Security forces responded by severely beating the residents.
The director of the administrative unit in Abri apologized to the citizens for the actions of the security forces, affirming that a police case had been opened against the director of NISS in the administrative unit and that it was expected that his immunity would be withdrawn and he would be brought to trial. The residents of Sawarda rejected the apology and maintained their unwillingness to hear any promises until the Sawarda Plant, which uses cyanide and other polluting chemicals, is shut down and removed from the area.
The media secretary of the six party committee, a committee bringing together six community development entities and seeking to protect the area and the environment, engineer Wael Hassan pointed out that “the residents gathered from 2:30 am in response to a call for help from the surveillance team and they managed to expel both the security forces and the technical team that was trying to connect electrical power at night, in spite of their commitment to a judge and the director of the administrative unit of Abri that connection of electric power would be halted.” Wael added that “the residents removed all the electric power utility poles that were installed by the company, a total of five poles and they will continue to their sit-in protest in the tent of resistance until the plant closes”.