* Protesters armed and determined to die – police chief
* President Zuma says violence “shocking”, announces inquiry
* Stunned South Africans question “culture of violence”
* World platinum prices spike, Lonmin shares slump
By Jon Herskovitz
MARIKANA, South Africa, Aug 17 (Reuters) – The police
killing of 34 striking platinum miners in the bloodiest security
operation since the end of white rule cut to the quick of South
Africa’s psyche on Friday, with searching questions asked of its
post-apartheid soul.
Newspaper headlines screamed “Bloodbath”, “Killing Field”
and “Mine Slaughter”, with graphic photographs of heavily armed
white and black police officers walking casually past the
bloodied corpses of black men lying crumpled in the dust.
The images, along with Reuters TV footage of officers
opening up with automatic weapons on a small group of men in
blankets and t-shirts at Lonmin’s Marikana platinum plant,
rekindled uncomfortable memories of South Africa’s racist past.
Police chief Riah Phiyega confirmed 34 dead and 78 injured
in Thursday’s shootings after officers moved against 3,000
striking drill operators armed with machetes and sticks at the
mine, 100 km (60 miles) northwest of Johannesburg.
Continued…
