NEW DELHI: Indian federal police have charged 30 people with rioting and other offences after an environmental protest at Vedanta Ltd’s copper mine in 2018 turned deadly, with police shooting dead 12 protesters.

The incident, the deadliest environmental protest in India in a decade, was condemned by a working group of United Nations’ human rights experts for the “excessive and disproportionate use of lethal force by police.”

Six of the protesters who were killed were shot from behind.

No policeman or government official who oversaw the firing was charged, the chargesheet reviewed by Reuters showed. The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) said police had “little choice other than resorting to firing,” as protesters outnumbered police.