Thousands of Indians are protesting against the nation’s consent to join the 2012 Olympics despite sponsorship from a company that was behind a devastating industrial catastrophe in the country three decades ago, the Times of India said.
The protesters have blocked railways in the Bhopal city in central India. At least 15,000 local residents died here in a man-caused disaster in 1984 when a deadly smoke cloud from a plant owned by Dow Chemical’s Union Carbide company covered the city. Hundreds of thousands of people were severely affected and died in the aftermath of the accident.
Protesters say the Indian government should seek a higher $8-billion compensation for the victims instead of the $470 million it had settled for, and want Dow Chemicals to be excluded from the sponsors’ list of the London Olympics.
