May 15, 11 | Malaysiakini
At least four people were arrested in Kuantan, Pahang today during at a rally organised by the anti-Lynas Advanced Material Plant (LAMP) movement.
The protestors had gathered in front of DAP’s service centre in the state capital at about 11.30am.
Barely 10 minutes into the demonstration, the police had moved in.
DAP Pahang publicity secretary Chow Yu Hui and organising secretary Lee Chin Chen as well as Khor Huey Ying and Thing Siew Shuen, from the DAP’s headquarters were arrested.
The proposed construction of the anti-rare earth plant in Gebeng, some 25km northeast of Kuantan, has sparked much public outrage over fears of potential radiation poisoning and its effects on the communities living in and around the industrial area.
Both the Australia-Lynas and the government have given assurances that the plant’s operations would produce only negligible levels of radiation.
They also said the project would differ from the controversial Asian Rare Earth factory run by Mitsubishi Chemical in Bukit Merah, Perak, that operated in the 1980s and 1990s.
However, opponents of the project stressed that concerns over radiation poisoning were inevitable as there has so far been no clear plan on how and where the plant’s waste materials – said to be a major source of radiation – would be disposed.
Proponents recently announced that the UN nuclear agency, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), would set up an expert panel to advise it on the potential radiation risks of the plant.
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