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Themba Hadebe / AP
An unidentified woman cries as women protest against the police near the scene of the shooting of miners on Thursday at the Lonmin mine near Rustenburg, South Africa, on Aug. 17. Police chief Mangwashi Victoria Phiyega says 34 miners died and another 78 were wounded when police opened fire on strikers in one of the worst police shootings in South Africa since apartheid.
Denis Farrell / AP
An unidentified woman cries on Aug. 17, as she protests against the police opening fire Thursday and killing and injuring striking mine workers at the Lonmin Platinum Mine near Rustenburg, South Africa.
Reuters -- MARIKANA, South Africa -- 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 television footage of a phalanx of officers opening up with automatic weapons on a small group of men in blankets and t-shirts, rekindled uncomfortable memories of South Africa's racist past.
Police chief Riah Phiyega confirmed 34 dead and 78 injured after officers moved in against 3,000 striking drill operators armed with machetes and sticks and massed on a rocky outcrop at the mine, 100 km (60 miles) northwest of Johannesburg.
Continue reading: Mine "bloodbath" shocks post-apartheid South Africa
Related links on PhotoBlog:
- South Africa police fire on striking miners, killing 30
- South Africa police fire on striking miners, several dead
Siphiwe Sibeko / Reuters
Policemen look on as women carrying placards chant slogans in protest against the killing of miners by South African police on Thursday, outside a South African mine in Rustenburg, 62 miles northwest of Johannesburg, on Aug. 17. South African Police were forced to open fire to protect themselves from charging armed protesters at the Marikana mine, and 34 of the protesters were killed, Police Commissioner Riah Phiyega said on Friday. She told a news conference that 78 people were injured and 259 arrested in Thursday's violence.
After a violent pay dispute left 34 dead and 78 injured in South Africa, Police say they were "forced to use maximum force to defend themselves." ITN's Neil Connery reports.
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This is the new world order. that bush was talking about a while ago.if don't behave and get in line we put you down. You have no rights.we have all the right.
The world is in turmoil. When countries decide to execute their own people. This is about to happen all over the world. The only trouble is you won't see it coming.
They did'nt execute their own people, they acted in self defense. The Police chief in the statement , stated that the protesters needed to leave and that the strike would be ended that day. That video was stated before the shooting happened. Also do you thing the protesters were just going to pat the back of the officers with the machetes? Self defense , not execution. Think.
most wont see it.most have their head up their ass.most will denigh its happening right in front of them.
rspct my authority.
Allen,
You are correct. It is a shame that many Americans ( & Westerns) refuse to see it what is actually happening. It is difficult to awaken drugged up, brainwashed fools.
Your right Rspct , you don't charge the guys with automatic weapons with a machete in your hands , you will die . But some people gotta try to turn self defense into a political issue as if it was in any way political . I seriously doubt the protesters would have been shot had they not attacked first . Although it does speak to their intelligence when they bring a machete to a gun fight , seriously if your gonna fight try making a plan first geeez .
Those woman protesters might be next in getting shot by those police.
If they charge the police with machetes, they deserve it.
AT LEAST South Africa has a FREE PRESS and ELECTIONS so the people of South Africa can see what is going on and make judgements in the next election. Can't say that about China, North Korea, Vitenam, Russia, Syria, Iran, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, most of Africa, most of the Middle East. This is thanks to Nelson Mandella, who told the communists, big supporters of the fight against apartheid, that he valued free elections. Now, the problem is, the corrupt government the people elected. Sound familiar? We're not a lot smarter than they are and we've got 300 years of practice under out belt and they've only got a few. So, who is dumber or more complacent?