HOUSTON -- Two victims of the Bhopal, India, chemical disaster and two others were arrested Wednesday as they tried to enter a hotel where Union Carbide Corp.'s annual meeting was underway.
Hotel managers requested the arrests because theprotesters insisted on personally delivering a report compiled by the National Toxics Campaign detailing results of the Bhopal incident and victims' demands for compensation.
'We do not allow anyone to distribute material inside the hotel without getting our prior approval,' said an official at the Hyatt Regency West Houston.
The four men arrested faced possible charges of criminal trespass with intent to solicit. They were identified as Sunil Kumar Rajput, 17, whose parents and five siblings died at Bhopal; Chander Singh Nimgule, also a Bhopal victim; translator Satinath Sarangi; and Rick Abraham, director of the Texas division of the National Toxics Campaign and of Texans United.
Union Carbide officials were unaware of the arrests when they occurred, but later offered to provide bail money for the men.
'We think officials with Carbide and the hotel overreacted,' said Gary Cohen, national coordinator of National Toxics Campaign. 'Rather than having them give us bail money, we say they should get the hotel to drop the charges. And if they wanted to make a contribution, they could make a contribution toward interim relief for the Bhopal victims instead of getting them out of jail.'
Cohen said the men refused to enter the hotel without their report because 'they had put all their demands and their story into print through this report. They wanted the (Union Carbide) shareholders to have a chance to read this report.'
Union Carbide spokesman Ralph Leviton said his firm had nothing to do with the charges, and that it was up to the hotel management to decide whether to drop the charges.
During the meeting, shareholders overwhelmingly defeated a resolution demanding better treatment of Bhopal victims. The holders of 81 million shares voted against the resolution while 5 million shares favored it and 32 million shares abstained.
The world's most deadly chemical disaster occurred Dec. 3, 1984, at a Union Carbide pesticide factory in Bhopal. The incident eventually was blamed for 2,889 deaths and more than 270,000 injuries.
Methyl isocyanate gas escaped through a ruptured valve, killing area residents as they slept. Most of the dead were children and elderly people crowded into shanty towns around the plant.
Earlier this year, the Supreme Court of India directed Union Carbide, headquartered in Danbury, Conn., and Union Carbide India Ltd. to pay $470 million in full settlement of all claims arising from the Bhopal tragedy.
The settlement was paid Feb. 24, but remains in a bank because of opposition by groups who believe it is insufficent.