DHAKA: Clashes erupted in Bangladesh’s capital on Thursday as police fired tear gas at hundreds of campaigners protesting against a massive coal-fired power plant they said would destroy the world’s largest mangrove forest.

Witnesses said Shahbagh Square, Dhaka’s main protest venue, turned into a battleground as police used water cannon and fired tear gas and rubber bullets at hundreds of left-wing and environmental protesters.

“There were some 200 protesters. We fired tear gas at them after they threw bricks at us. We also used water cannon,” Maruf Hossain Sorder, deputy commissioner of Dhaka Metropolitan Police, said.

Local television stations and a correspondent at the scene said police also fired rubber bullets at the protesters. At least four people were injured, according to the private Jamuna Television.

Campaigners have been protesting for the last three years against the under-construction plant which is 14 kilometres north of Sundarbans forest, part of which is a Unesco world heritage site.

Experts from both Bangladesh and India — a part of the forest is in eastern India — say the project could critically damage the unique forest, which is home to endangered Bengal tigers and Irrawaddy dolphins.

Published in Dawn, January 27th, 2017