South African police opened fire Thursday on striking workers at a South African platinum mine,killing at least 18 and wounding others in one of the worst shootings by authorities since the end of the apartheid era.
The sordid scene were captured on video by news agency Reuters an later tweeted.
The shooting happened after police moved in to try to disperse workers after a week of violence at the mine involving workers from competing unions armed with machetes, clubs and other weapons.
Images broadcasted by major TV networks carried the sound of a barrage of automatic gunfire that ended with police officers shouting: “Cease fire!” By that time, bodies were lying in the dust, some pouring blood.
South African President Jacob Zuma issued a statement Thursday saying he was “shocked and dismayed by this senseless violence.” “I have instructed law enforcement agencies to do everything possible to bring the situation under control and to bring the perpetrators of violence to book,” he said.
“We believe there is enough space in our democratic order for any dispute to be resolved through dialogue without any breaches of the law or violence,” Zuma further added.
A police spokesman said officers did their best to handle a volatile situation, and accused heavily armed miners of opening fire first. “Now what should police do in such situations when clearly what they are faced with are armed and hard-core criminals who murder police?” police spokesman Zweli Mnisi said. “We had a situation where people who were armed to the teeth, attacked and killed others, even police officers and, for the record, one of the firearms used was that of our deceased police officer.”
The mine is owned by Lonmin PLC, the company has threatened to fire the miners if they do not report for their shifts on Friday.
About 3,000 mine workers went on strike Aug. 10 demanding a pay rise. When miners allied with a rival union tried to go to work over the weekend, they were attacked, according to a statement from Lonmin. Angry miners then massed, and repeatedly tried to break through a security cordon around the mine. At one point they mobbed two mine security guards in their car and burned them to death. They later hacked two police officers to death with machetes.
Watch video here:
http://video.theaustralian.com.au/2268834184/South-African-police-fire-on-striking-miners