04-14-2007, 09:51 AM
<b>Rioters target Indians in Uganda</b> <!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->New Delhi: Indians and other Asians are being targeted as violent protests have broken out in Uganda over an Indian firm's plans to develop part of a rainforest reserve.
One man was stoned to death and two other people were also killed in Thursday's violence, during which military police in armored vehicles fired tear gas into the crowd.
Many Asian-owned shops were closed in the Ugandan capital Kampala on Friday and many Ugandan Asians had not reported to work and were keeping their children home from in school.
Troops have been deployed in central Kampala after police fired tear gas and live ammunition to stop rioters attacking Indian businesses and a Hindu temple.
Police rescued more than 100 Asian men besieged in a Hindu temple and elsewhere, and rushed them to a police station.
The protests are over a plan to cut down nearly a third of a rain forest reserve to expand the sugarcane plantations of a company owned by an Indian.
<b>The company is a subsidiary of the Mehta Group, which is run by Ugandans of Indian descent, and it wants to use 7,000 hectares (17,000 acres) â nearly a third of the Mabira Forest Reserve â to expand the plantation</b>.
Critics say cutting part of Mabira would have grave ecological consequences, from increased soil erosion to the drying up of rivers and rainfall, and the removal of a buffer against polluting nearby Lake Victoria.
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One man was stoned to death and two other people were also killed in Thursday's violence, during which military police in armored vehicles fired tear gas into the crowd.
Many Asian-owned shops were closed in the Ugandan capital Kampala on Friday and many Ugandan Asians had not reported to work and were keeping their children home from in school.
Troops have been deployed in central Kampala after police fired tear gas and live ammunition to stop rioters attacking Indian businesses and a Hindu temple.
Police rescued more than 100 Asian men besieged in a Hindu temple and elsewhere, and rushed them to a police station.
The protests are over a plan to cut down nearly a third of a rain forest reserve to expand the sugarcane plantations of a company owned by an Indian.
<b>The company is a subsidiary of the Mehta Group, which is run by Ugandans of Indian descent, and it wants to use 7,000 hectares (17,000 acres) â nearly a third of the Mabira Forest Reserve â to expand the plantation</b>.
Critics say cutting part of Mabira would have grave ecological consequences, from increased soil erosion to the drying up of rivers and rainfall, and the removal of a buffer against polluting nearby Lake Victoria.
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