10 August 2004
Government lifts suspension of work on BTC following BP's failure to obtain environmental certification to proceed
(RFE/RL, Aug 10)
More than 70 residents of the southern Georgian Borjomi Valley clashed with police on 9 August during a protest over the resumption of construction of the Baku-Ceyhan oil pipeline, AFP reported. Regional administration official David Nemsadze reported that at least two policemen were injured after being assaulted by several stone-throwing protestors. The demonstrators were protesting the Georgian government's decision to lift the suspension of construction work along the Georgian section of the BP-led project to establish a new export pipeline to transport oil from Baku to the Turkish port of Ceyhan on the Mediterranean Sea. The pipeline has sparked widespread opposition by environmental groups and local residents, who have charged that the construction damages the local wetlands and poses unacceptable risk to the famous mineral springs of the Borjomi Valley.
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