JOHANNESBURG Feb 16 (Reuters) – Thousands of
protesting miners burnt tyres and torched a police office near
Impala Platinum’s Rustenburg mine in South Africa on
Thursday as a month-long strike at the world’s second-largest
producer of the precious metal turned violent.
Police also said a miner who was beaten up during an
overnight demonstration near the Rustenburg plant had died of
his injuries.
Up to 5,000 miners were blocking the road leading to the
mine, 120 km (80 miles) northwest of Johannesburg, provincial
police spokeswoman Adele Myburgh said. One female police officer
had been injured by flying stones, she added.
“This has been ongoing for a while but this morning they
regrouped, started intimidating people who wanted to go to the
mine, there were people assaulted, vehicles were stoned,”
Myburgh said.
“The road was barricaded, vehicles travelling on that road
were stoned, private vehicles as well as heavy-armed police
vehicles.”
Implats’ Rustenburg operations have been brought to a halt
for a month because of a dispute stemming from the sacking of
17,200 employees after a wildcat strike on Jan. 12.
The company said the closure had cost 1.2 billion rand ($155
million) in lost output, and the lack of production has helped
push world platinum prices higher.
Myburgh said police had made eight arrests, but the
situation was far from under control. “The situation is
obviously very tense and hostile,” she said.
($1 = 7.7336 South African rand)
(Reporting by Agnieszka Flak; Editing by Ed Cropley)
© Thomson Reuters 2012 All rights reserved
