HUNDREDS of people have protested in the centre of El Salvador’s capital against the approval of a law allowing metallic mining in the country.

The proposals are being pushed by President Nayib Bukele, who claimed at the end of last year that El Salvador had gold deposits “with the highest density per square kilometre in the world.” 

Human rights campaigner Monsignor Neftali Ruiz said that he and fellow activists “consider this issue very complicated and we can not remain silent,” as he described how previous attempts to allow mining have led to the persecution of environmentalists and the murder of several activists.

Protesters in San Salvador, who staged a sit-in on the steps of the National Library, also warned that the mining would endanger the water sources that supply more than 50 per cent of Salvadorans, such as the River Lempa, the largest in the country.

They carried banners bearing slogans such as “mining is death,” “every mine pollutes,” “the rivers don’t scream, but I do” and “water is worth more than gold.”

They also called on the rest of the population to join the anti-mining movement and to “not be afraid, because water is a right.”

Last December, the Salvadoran Congress, dominated by the ruling Nuevas Ideas party, repealed a mining ban dating from 2017.