Protestors ask Lord Coe and Mayor Johnson to drink Bhopal water
Both the Mayor of London city as well as the head of the Olympic Committee, Boris Johnson and Sebastian Coe, have recently been challenged by protestors to drink the water from the area where the Bhopal gas disaster took place in India.
Since the time that Dow Chemical has become associated with the Olympic Games the protests against the association started taking place and they are becoming more vocal as the London 2012 Olympic Games draw nearer.
The protestors are speaking against the partnership of the Dow Chemical Company, which is one of the biggest sponsors that the International Olympic Committee has, because of the fact that the company’s subsidy by the name of Union Carbide was responsible
for one of the worst industrial disasters of all time. The tragic incident which occurred caused the death of thousands of the local residents because of a gas leak that took place in the company’s factories in Bhopal.
The Dow Chemical Company paid some money to the government of India and the victims but the amount was considered to be too less of a compensation by the receiving parties. It has been demanded since by the affected ones from Dow Chemicals to pay off its
debt. In the same vein, the protestors have asked the IOC to cancel its contract with the company till the time it pays off its liabilities.
Farah Williams, one of the survivors of the Bhopal incident, put up the challenge to the Coe and Mayor Johnson in the following words, “She (Williams) will have a specially designed bottle of b'eaupal drinking water (a spoof mineral water product) and can
be filmed or photographed in front of the Olympic Countdown clock. The clock will be adorned with a specially designed banner explaining that there are only ‘200 Days Left to Dump Dow’!”
Previously, the decision came out that Dow Chemical will not be branding itself on the cloth wrap that will be adorned around the Olympic stadium sponsored by the company but since then, the company has been vigorously defended by Lord Coe.
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