<\/p>\n
It was the second large protest since the Nagashiki Shipping Co.-owned MV Wakashio spilled about 1,000 tons of fuel into the pristine waters of Mauritius, and it shows rising anger about the government\u2019s role. On Aug. 29, protesters marched on the streets of Mauritian capital Port Louis, blaming authorities for failing to prevent a leakage that started almost two weeks after the ship hit a reef.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Protesters including residents from fishing villages marched and later converged at the Mahebourg waterfront for a rally. They waved the national flag and most wore black t-shirts, some with printed words; \u201ci love my country\u201d and \u201ci am ashamed of my government.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\u201cGovernment failed to take appropriate decisions to stop the oil spill,\u201d said Ashok Subron, one of the organizers of the protests. \u201cPeople rallied to protect the sea. Wakashio has shown how attached Mauritians are with the sea and why they are angry. We are challenging the regime and its policies.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Mauritius faces widespread pollution from the spill, with experts saying it may take as long as a decade to clean up. Yet it\u2019s not known how much any compensation will help the thousands of people who depend on the delicate ecosystem to get their livelihood back. The damage doesn\u2019t bode well for a nation whose economy relies on fishing and tourism and was already reeling from the coronavirus pandemic.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are asking for full transparency in the inquiry regarding Wakashio,\u201d said Rashid Imrith, president of the All Employees Confederation, who also helped organize the match.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The shipping ministry of Mauritius has completed an interim report that will serve as a basis for further investigations, though it hasn\u2019t been released publicly. The government said it\u2019s seeking compensation too.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\u201cWe understand that people want to show their anger against a disaster,\u201d Joe Lesjongard, president of the ruling Mouvement Socialiste Mauricien party said by phone. \u201cThe government has put in place a police inquiry and a court of investigation to situate responsibilities. we cannot draw conclusions\u201d yet, he said.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\u00a9 2020 Bloomberg L.P<\/em> <\/p>\n gCaptain<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" It was the second large protest since the Nagashiki Shipping Co.-owned MV Wakashio spilled about 1,000 tons of fuel into the pristine waters of Mauritius, and it shows rising anger about the government\u2019s role. On Aug. 29, protesters marched on the streets of Mauritian capital Port Louis, blaming authorities for failing to prevent a leakage …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":16660,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[56],"tags":[2147,2956,9944,166,7439,1545,2267,9488],"class_list":["post-17446","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-marine-world","tag-failed","tag-government","tag-mauritians","tag-oil","tag-protest","tag-response","tag-spill","tag-wakashio"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.al-sindbad.net\/rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17446","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.al-sindbad.net\/rest\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.al-sindbad.net\/rest\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.al-sindbad.net\/rest\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.al-sindbad.net\/rest\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17446"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.al-sindbad.net\/rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17446\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.al-sindbad.net\/rest\/wp\/v2\/media\/16660"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.al-sindbad.net\/rest\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17446"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.al-sindbad.net\/rest\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17446"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.al-sindbad.net\/rest\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17446"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}