Arrested Marikana miners assaulted in jail by S.A. Police

More than 100 cases of assault with intent to do grievous bodily harm on mine workers, arrested during the recent strike at the Lonmin mine, have been opened against the South African police in the last 48 hours.

Digital Journal reported on the strike by Marikana mine workers at the Lonmin Platinum mine near Rustenburg, South Africa. During the incident a shooting massacre killed 34 miners, with a total of 45 people dead and 78 wounded.

Almost 260 of the striking miners were arrested by the South African Police and are being held in custody in police stations around the Rustenburg area... read more.

Hundreds of miners trapped in India by power outage

While 600 million people in India suffer without electricity, hundreds of miners are trapped underground. Officials are attempting a rescue operation.

Digital Journal reported on the power outage in northern India, which initially affected 300 million, but is today affecting 600 million people in the country... read more.

Protesting miners use home-made bazookas against Spanish Police

200 miners were protesting austerity cuts yesterday in the northern Spanish village of Ciñera near León. Police used rubber bullets, protesters retaliated with their own home-made weapons.

There have been ongoing protests in several mining towns and villages in Spain, over the Spanish Government's plans to slash subsidies to the coal sector by over 60%. This would reduce subsidies from 301 million euro last year, to only 111 million this year.

According to union officials, these austerity measures could jeopardize the jobs of about 8,000 coal miners and up to 30,000 other people indirectly employed in the mining sector... read more.