South Africa police ? 34 protesting miners
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d.green
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Thirty-four people were killed after police opened fire on striking miners at a South African mine on Thursday, the police chief has said.
Riah Phiyega said police had been forced to shoot after armed protesters charged them, "firing shots", at the Marikana mine in the north-east.
At least 78 people were injured in the confrontation, she added.
Unions are demanding an inquiry into the incident - one of the bloodiest police operations since apartheid.
The Lonmin-owned platinum mine has been at the centre of a violent pay dispute, exacerbated by tensions between two rival trade unions.
Violence had already killed 10 people, including two police officers, since the strike began a week ago.
Police were sent to break up some 3,000 miners - some armed with clubs and machetes - who had gathered on a hillside overlooking Marikana to call for a pay rise of about $1,000 (£636) a month.The miners, who are currently earning between 4000-5000 rand ($484 - $605), say they want their salary increased to 12,500 ($1,512).
The circumstances that led police to open fire remain unclear, but reports from eyewitnesses suggest the shooting took place after a group of demonstrators rushed at a line of police officers.
Police, armed with automatic rifles and pistols, fired dozens of shots, witnesses said.
One witness, Molaole Montsho, of the South African news agency Sapa, said police had first used water cannon, tear gas and stun grenades in an attempt to break up the protest
South Africa is the largest platinum producer in the world and the dispute has already affected production.
Lonmin, the world's third-largest platinum producer, has encountered similar labour disputes at the Marikana mine. In May 2011, the company sacked some 9,000 employees after a strike.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-19292909
Riah Phiyega said police had been forced to shoot after armed protesters charged them, "firing shots", at the Marikana mine in the north-east.
At least 78 people were injured in the confrontation, she added.
Unions are demanding an inquiry into the incident - one of the bloodiest police operations since apartheid.
The Lonmin-owned platinum mine has been at the centre of a violent pay dispute, exacerbated by tensions between two rival trade unions.
Violence had already killed 10 people, including two police officers, since the strike began a week ago.
Police were sent to break up some 3,000 miners - some armed with clubs and machetes - who had gathered on a hillside overlooking Marikana to call for a pay rise of about $1,000 (£636) a month.The miners, who are currently earning between 4000-5000 rand ($484 - $605), say they want their salary increased to 12,500 ($1,512).
The circumstances that led police to open fire remain unclear, but reports from eyewitnesses suggest the shooting took place after a group of demonstrators rushed at a line of police officers.
Police, armed with automatic rifles and pistols, fired dozens of shots, witnesses said.
One witness, Molaole Montsho, of the South African news agency Sapa, said police had first used water cannon, tear gas and stun grenades in an attempt to break up the protest
South Africa is the largest platinum producer in the world and the dispute has already affected production.
Lonmin, the world's third-largest platinum producer, has encountered similar labour disputes at the Marikana mine. In May 2011, the company sacked some 9,000 employees after a strike.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-19292909
Comments
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Sad story.
The article mentioned a current pay, an intended pay rise, and an intended salary rise, but the wording, grammatical errors?, the lack of specification of whether the pay and salary is weekly, monthly, or yearly, and the use of pounds and dollars all confused me. So I don't really have an idea of what they're earning and what pay they're demanding and whether their demands are reasonable or not. That just threw me off.
Just reading the title made me think that the cops were at fault and were the aggressors, but the situation seems to be more complicated than that, so I can't really completely blame the cops. Tragic events like this could allow cooler heads to prevail, but that usually isn't the case, so I can only hope.
