HANOI: A Vietnamese court has rejected hundreds of lawsuits filed by fishermen who demanded more compensation from a Taiwanese-owned steel plant responsible for a devastating toxic leak, a leading activist said Saturday. In a rare case of civic action in authoritarian Vietnam, crowds of fishermen swamped a courthouse last month to file 506 lawsuits against Taiwan’s Formosa, which is building a multi-billion-dollar steel plant in Ha Tinh province. Local fishermen launched their lawsuits in an effort to wrest more money from Formosa and demand it shut down the steel operation altogether. Dead fish and other marine life began washing up on Vietnam’s central coast in April, hitting fishermen and triggering rounds of protests. Last Sunday, thousands of Vietnamese protesters surrounded the steel plant, with some scaling its walls and holding signs demanding its closure.

Source: Manila Times October 08, 2016 10:07 UTC