South Africa police say they killed 30+ miners

[cali]

Source: AP



By By MICHELLE FAUL and JON GAMBRELL, Associated Press – 14 minutes ago

JOHANNESBURG (AP) — South African police officers killed more than 30 miners who charged them at a Lonmin PLC platinum mine, authorities said Friday, as a national newspaper warned that a time bomb ticking over poor South Africans has exploded.

Thursday's shootings are one of the worst in South Africa since the end of the apartheid era, and came as a rift deepens between the country's governing African National Congress and an impoverished electorate confronting massive unemployment and growing poverty and inequality.

They "awaken us to the reality of the time bomb that has stopped ticking — it has exploded," The Sowetan newspaper said in an editorial. "Africans are pitted against each other ... fighting for a bigger slice of the mineral wealth of the country. In the end the war claims the very poor African -- again."

Police ministry spokesman Zweli Mnisi told The Associated Press on Friday that more than 30 people were killed on Thursday in the police volleys of gunfire during the strike, now a week old. He said an investigation into the shooting near Marikana, about 70 kilometers (40 miles) northwest of Johannesburg, is underway. Political parties and labor unions, including the ANC, called for an independent inquiry.
Police ministry spokesman Zweli Mnisi told The Associated Press on Friday that more than 30 people were killed on Thursday in the police volleys of gunfire during the strike, now a week old. He said an investigation into the shooting near Marikana, about 70 kilometers (40 miles) northwest of Johannesburg, is underway. Political parties and labor unions, including the ANC, called for an independent inquiry.



Read more: http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5h9sSX4Ozg-j1F5ZUQpLC2hYQlIBw?docId=516088fcf55d4ded883824d1b9b43521

[KeepItReal]

1. Here's info on the owners of the mine

"Lonmin says it "deeply" regrets the deaths at its Marikana platinum mine in South Africa after clashes between police and strikers.

...

In a statement, Lonmin chairman Roger Phillimore said: "We are treating the developments around police operations... with the utmost seriousness.

"It goes without saying that we deeply regret the further loss of life in what is clearly a public order rather than labour relations associated matter."

...

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/business-19293711


They don't seem concerned with the core issue of workers demanding more pay.

[Blue_Tires]

2. GD thread:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10021145881#post2

[cali]

3. I posted an earlier thread in GD

It got even less attention than Trumad's. I'm glad he posted again, but people don't seem very interested in this atrocity.

[Ashgrey77]

5. They will be when it starts to happen here.

It has before and it will again.

[Sean4u]

4. Another side on Al Jazeera

Al Jazeera's video shows the incident and its prelude from a markedly different angle to that shown on most of the news channels:

http://www.aljazeera.com/news/africa/2012/08/201281754353971991.html

[cali]

6. Oh fucking please

We're talking about 35 people being mowed down. what about using tear gas or even rubber bullets. And what about the sick, rapacious company that underpays the miners horribly whilst reaping in profits and fired 9,000 for striking last year.

fuck the mine owners and fuck the police who murdered these people.

[Sean4u]

8. Oh fucking please what?

Did you watch AJ's video? I posted the link here because the BBC removed my comment on grounds of offensive language. I think it was because I said it "had an air of pheasant shoot about it".

I don't know what to make of the videos - but the BBC's one supports a trite explanation of the incident that doesn't seem to me to fit the content of Al Jazeera's video.

[NickB79]

10. It kind of looks like the first shots WERE rubber bullets

In that video, I looks like the officers that started firing with shotguns were firing rubber bullets. I base this only on the fact that you can see individuals being hit but still only recoiling and walking/running away. If those were live buckshot rounds, they'd be on the ground at that range.

But then it looks like the officers firing non-lethal shotguns HERDED the protesters directly into the line of officers with rifles armed with live rounds

[Trillo]

7. Workers vs employers.

A serious repetition of the archetypal pattern. This incident reminds us of the real meaning behind the phrase, "You're Fired".

[sinkingfeeling]

9. Horrible! Why do I sense our police are heading in the same direction?