BHUBANESWAR, India, Jan. 3 (UPI) -- Police in India's eastern Orissa state opened fire on tribal people during a protest against a proposed steel plant on tribal land, killing 12 of them.
A policeman also died in the clashes Monday at Kalinganagar, 80 miles north of the state capital of Bhubaneswar, reports the BBC. The report said the area remained tense as hundreds of tribesmen had blocked a main road where they had laid the bodies of four of their dead and were refusing to move.
Police said they fired in self-defense after they were attacked with arrows.
The tribesmen said in a statement that they would not "give up a square inch of land" they regard as theirs for the planned steel plant. They were demanding talks with Orissa's chief minister and the resignation of senior local officials.
Private companies want to set up steel plants in the mineral-rich states such as Orissa and Jharkhand as India's demand for steel rises. Locals residents say they are not being adequately compensated for their land, reports the BBC.