ARGENTINA: Argentines protest against controversial pulp mill project being contrstucted by Finland's Metsa-Botnia in Uruguay

Argentine environmentalists angry about the new pulp mill being constructed by Finland's Metsa-Botnia on Argentina's border with Uruguay, marched on the Finnish embassy in the Argentine capital of Buenos Aires on Thursday (January 25). Following the World Court's decision earlier this week that it would not force Argentina to remove protest blockades on roads between the neighboring states, environmentalists seized the initiative and extended their protest to the Finnish embassy in the heart of Buenos Aires. The protesters from the capital and Gualeguaychú, the tourist destination in Argentina which sits on the banks of the river opposite the proposed mill site, marched on the Finnish embassy, but were prevented from reaching the building by a police cordon, which had been reinforced in the face of the protests. Police confronted the placard waving protesters before they were able to reach the entrance to the embassy, forcing the marchers to gather a short distance away, where they used theatre to draw attention to their cause. They set up two pools of water at the protest site - a clean pool and a dirty pool. Children played in the clean pool of water, surrounded by colourful fish. A man dressed as death stood in a dirty pool of water, surrounded by patches of oil and dead fish to symbolize the environmental damage that they think will result from building the paper mill plant. The protesters targeted the embassy since they claim that it is at the heart of the conflict between the neighbouring South American states. The protest leader, Ruben Sabourlard, explained. "And if today the republic of Finland - that exercises a presence in the European Union - is being questioned by our people it is the responsibility of the government of Finland, and not ours, if this flag [indicating Finnish flag in his hand], if this Finnish flag today is going to be dirtied by filth, it is because (the Finnish) are dirtying it with filth. And you will not take us into a conflict with the people of Uruguay," he said. Protesters dipped the Finnish flag in the dirty water and there was a poster calling Finnish President Tarja Halonen an "accomplice". Argentine protesters wan the project, which is the biggest investment that has ever been made in Uruguay, shelved. The World Court ruled that construction of the plant could continue last year, but a decision on whether or not the plant should open is still to be decided by the World Court.

ITN Source | January 26, 2007

Tags:. .damage. .protests. .prevented. .plant. .earlier