Anti Coca-Cola Demonstrations India

News Article:

Water is the most valuable natural resource (beside air). Whoever controls water rights controls the people. Petroleum use is an issue but I don't see it as the primary resource. It is a distraction, slight of hand to steer public attention away from the birthright of clean and abundant water supplies.

500 Anti-Coca-Cola Demonstrators Arrested in India

PLACHIMADA, India, June 9, 2005 (ENS) - Hundreds of community residents and supporters marched to the Coca-Cola factory gates in Plachimada, Kerala on Wednesday to demand that the plant be permanently shut down.

A large cordon of police officers met the protesters, and about 500 people were arrested. Police beat a woman protester, who was taken to a nearby hospital for treatment, eyewitnesses said. All protesters were released by the end of the day.

The protests, organized by the Coca-Cola Virudha Samara Samiti (Anti Coca-Cola Struggle Committee) and the Plachimada Solidarity Committee, comes two days after the local village council, under pressure from the Kerala High Court, conditionally renewed Coca-Cola's license for three months.

The Coca-Cola bottling plant in Plachimada, Kerala was the scene of a demonstration Wednesday. (Photo courtesy Coca-Cola India) The Coca-Cola bottling plant in Plachimada has remained closed since March 2004 because the local village council has refused to renew Coca-Cola's license to operate, citing the company for causing severe water shortages to the community.

On June 5, the local village council renewed Coca-Cola's license for three months and with 13 conditions.

I fail to understand why more people are not concerned over what is happening with respect to the control of our water supplies by big business. Once we have lost control it will be too late to cry foul...

This statement says it all..."This issue is about much more than the extraction of water by Coca-Cola itself," said Bijoy. "The issue is about who has the fundamental decision making power over the use of natural resources, and it is about the survival of the people."


[edit on 15/6/2005 by Lady of the Lake]

This sounds like very poor planning on the part of Coca Cola, that their plant would cause severe water shortages to the village. Do you have a link to the original article, or is the entire article quoted above?