A total of 15, including two police officers, were injured Aug. 27 when the village of Cocachacra, in Islay province of Peru's southern Arequipa region, exploded into angry protest following the release of an environmental impact statement at a public hearing on the Tía María mining project proposed by the US-based Southern Copper Corporation. (RPP [2], Peru, Aug. 27)
Protests erupted spontaneously at Cocachacra's municipal stadium, where the hearing was being held, when the company's impact statement approved use of waters from the local Río Tambo for the proposed mining operations. Some 400 police were called in, who used tear gas as the meeting ended in chaos. (Radio Uno [3], Tacna, Aug. 27)
The following day, Cocachacra's Mayor Juan Guillen Lopez held a press conference in the regional capital of Arequipa to appeal for calm and insist that he would never allow the Río Tambo to be used in mining operations. (El Pueblo [4], Arequipa, Aug. 29)
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