NEW DELHI – India, nine people have been killed in clashes with police inthe south Indian state of Tamil Nadu amid protests against a copper smelterthat residents say is causing environmental damage.

The protests against the Sterlite copper subsidiary of the Vedantaconglomerate have been going on for months in the port city of Tuticorin.

Police say clashes broke out as a huge crowd of protesters stormed districtgovernment headquarters.

Many others are critically injured.

Police said that the crowd had begun throwing stones at police and officebuildings, overturned cars and set several vehicles on fire.

They say they opened fire as the violence intensified.

A state minister defended the actions of the police, saying that it was”unavoidable”.

“Entering the office and violence is not acceptable…. firing [openingfire] became unavoidable,” fisheries minister D Jayakumar told reporters inChennai, formerly known as Madras. He said nearly 3,000 troops had beenrushed in from neighbouring districts to control the situation.

Protesters say the plant is polluting ground water in the area andthreatens the fishing industry.

The plant has been shut for more than 50 days due to alleged non-compliancewith environmental rules.

Vedanta has denied all the allegations against it and says it plans todouble the capacity of the plant. The company has not commented onTuesday’s violence.