Mauritius protests
About 75,000 people marched during the weekend in the capital Port Louis as a sign of protest against the government. The people are calling for further investigation regarding the oil spill caused by a Japanese ship.
“We do not trust the government and the diluted information they’ve been feeding us regarding the management and responses to the oil spill,” Fabiola Monty, an environmental scientist, said.
Many protestors wore black and T-shirts with the inscription: “I love my country. I’m ashamed of my government.” The people waved the country’s national flag while honking horns and drumming.
“They didn’t do anything when the ship approached our coastline – 12 days they didn’t do anything until the oil spill and now thousands of people and marine people are affected,” one protester told the BBC.
“I’ve never seen my country more unified because we realize we all live in one ecosystem and protecting it is very important,” Véronique Couttee, a conservation biologist originally from Mauritius said.
Couttee blames the government for not implementing more rigorous rules to protect the island, considering that Mauritius sustains itself through fishing, tourism, and recreation. She added that even before the major oil spill, the African island was highly affected by the coronavirus pandemic and by the cancellation of international flights. And now this…
“It’s been incredibly heartbreaking for me and all other Mauritians,” Ms. Couttee said. “The whole livelihood of a community depends on this area.”
According to Tokyo-Mitsui O.S.K. Lines, they will “continue to work with the relevant authorities of Mauritius and Japan to mitigate the situation as soon as possible together with the shipowners.”
1 thought on “Mauritius Oil Spill Causing Sudden Dolphins and Whales Deaths”
A Japanese mega-business wrecked their economy and their environment… and neither it, nor Japanese Gov. has taken on the multi-billion responsibility whilst initially worsening the damage by trying to keep it secret. Meanwhile environmentalists, particularly in the US spend most of their time whining about Donald Trump’s rightful refusal to subject the environmentally responsible USA to climate change summits, where the pollution villain, China, will again go unchallenged. Crazy world. No corrupt politics like the environmental variety.