More pictures from the demonstration.....

Hello All, here are photos for general use and more details on the 3/23 Pallone Press Conference and 3/24 DC Rally

US Congressman Pallone and Bhopal Advocates from the International Campaign for Justice in Bhopal and Amnesty International held a press conference in front of the Piscataway NJ Dow Chemical plant Thursday. Dow and plainclothes security officers were present before we arrived. From behind the Dow fence employees took photographs of us. NDTV, All Asia TV and India Snaps! Photo service covered the press conference. Congressman Pallone spoke about the tragedy and about his Chemical Security bill that requires security emergency plans and safer substitution where possible for chemical companies. The bill is currently in House Committee. Mohit Jain, a former resident of Bhopal whose family was affected by the disaster and has relatives with health problems as a result of the disaster spoke movingly of his experience. Aquene Freechild representing the International Campaign for Justice in Bhopal reiterated the need to support the survivors in their march and likely subsequent hunger strike and highlighted the damage that Dow's continued impunity in its conduct in India has caused. Amnesty International's NJ Student Area Coordinator Natalie discussed Amnesty's advocacy for clean water in Bhopal for the survivors.

Pictures at http://bhopal.shutterfly.com/  and www.aidindia.org

The DC rally went very well. We met with Harendra Negi, Personal Welfare Officer for the Indian Embassy. We had been scheduled to meet with the Indian Embassy's Economic and Commercial Minister, Mr. Anoop Misra, but without explanation the meeting was changed. Furthermore, Mr. Negi refused to sit down with us in the Embassy instead insisting we stand outside in front instead. We felt this was an insult, as we had requested meeting by letter from several weeks beforehand. The Secret Service stood shoulder to shoulder with us while we spoke for about a half hour with Mr. Negi. Ryan Bodanyi, Aquene Freechild and Nirveek Bhattacharjee discussed the current situation in Bhopal and the gravity of the ongoing water pollution there. We discussed the conduct of Dow in India in not submitting to Indian Law and marketing Dursban for home use, even while it is banned for home use in the US after several dozen children were killed or maimed by it.   Mr. Negi had thought we were all students, as were the marchers from Bhopal to Delhi. It was clear he was poorly informed and prepared for the meeting. He was very polite and seemed moved by the individual cases of suffering and by the personal appeal that Nirveek made to him. He was resistant to committing to forward all the e-mails and calls we have put into the US Embassy and Consulates to the Prime Minister's Office, but finally did agree and guaranteed that all materials we gave him would be passed on to the Indian Central Government.

We gave Mr. Negi the petition for the survivors with 572 signatures on it, a Bhopal Medical Appeal Newsletter, the fully articulated demands which we reviewed with him, the press release for the event, the Trespass Against Us Book on Dow and the Amnesty Report on Bhopal: Clouds of Injustice.