Villagers shout for their farms and villages during protests against the Lebadaung copper mine project in Sarlingyi township on Sept. 12. [Source]

The Associated Press reports: Students have joined farmers and other people who have been protesting the seizure of land for a copper mining project in northwestern Myanmar jointly owned by the military and a Chinese company.

The protest in Monywa in Sagaing region has been continuing since August, but expanded this week in response to the detention of its leaders, activists said Wednesday. The primary issue concerns the confiscation of nearly 8,000 acres (3,250 hectares) of land for the Monywa copper mine project, an area which includes 26 villages and several mountains.

Emboldened by Myanmar’s changing political climate, farmers, villagers, factory workers and others are now staging demonstrations in various parts of the country over issues ranging from land confiscation to electricity cuts. Read the full story.

For this issue specifically though, the demands are consistently for the return of the land confiscated when the military had been in power, the end to the forced relocation of the farmers and of the dumping of dangerous waste, and compensation for other things.