Nearly 200 villagers in the copper mining area of northwestern Myanmar’s Sagaing region staged a protest on Monday against a Chinese-backed company that they claim has not paid them reasonable compensation after seizing their farmland for a mining project, RFA reported.

Residents of Kankone village in Salingyi township marched from their community to the entrance of a compound owned by Myanmar Yang Tse Copper Ltd. and demanded payment for more than 2,000 acres of land and the right to use water from the Chindwin River, they said.

The residents say the company has confiscated land near two mountains for its Sabetaung and Kyisintaung (S&K) mining operations and has restricted public access to the Chindwin River as a water resource since the military-backed government under former president Thein Sein.