George Yeo 網路自強號

來源: 王先金的日誌 2012-08-18 10:59 | (分類:默認分類) -- 2012年08月18日03:59新京報

南非警方向礦工開火打死34人 稱出於自衛

8月16日，南非警方包圍在被槍擊的示威礦工周圍。

南非北方西北省勒斯騰堡地區馬瑞卡那的一座鉑金礦當地時間16日發生警察與示威礦工的武裝衝突。34名礦工在槍戰中死亡，警方稱槍擊出於“自衛”。

示威者佔據山頭要求漲工資

事發地點位於距離南非約翰內斯堡西北約100公里的北方西北省的隆明公司鉑金礦。此次衝突是持續近一周的暴力事件的延續。本月11日左右開始，該鉑金礦兩個不同工會支持者因爲工資問題發生衝突，已造成包括2名警察2名保安在內的10人死亡。對工會不抱希望的工人們也不再聽從工會指揮，隨後數千工人拿著長矛和砍刀佔據了一個山頭，要求增加工資，抗議活動逐漸演變成暴力衝突。據《紐約時報》報道，手持砍刀、棍棒、長矛的礦工在佔領的岩石上載歌載舞，表示如果要求得不到滿足——月薪加1000美元，他們做好了死亡的準備。礦工現在的收入在484至605美元左右。南非調集數千警察控制局勢，在驅散人群過程中開火。於是發生了16日下午的那一幕。

南非警方向示威礦工開槍10多人死亡




警察稱遭到襲擊還擊

當地時間16日下午，警方在試圖驅散示威的武裝礦工。警方先是利用水炮、眩暈手榴彈和催淚瓦斯試圖驅散礦工，意欲奪走礦工群體手中的砍刀、棍棒等武器而不成，目擊者稱隨後警方向示威人群開槍並封鎖現場，當時還有兩架直升機在進行空中監視和巡邏。警方稱是遭到襲擊後開始還擊。

南非警察部長那提·米特斯瓦此前證實至少30人在衝突中喪生。並估計死亡人數還將繼續上升，目前正在進行調查。

南非7月份新上任的國家警察局長費耶加稱，鉑礦槍戰中共有34名礦工死亡，另有78人受傷。槍擊34名礦工是出於自衛。“警方被迫開火以保護自己”，“他們對警察發動猛攻，開槍並揮舞著危險武器。”已有259人被捕。

公司否認“勞資糾紛”

發生槍擊事件的現場已經被黃色膠帶封鎖起來，警方收集彈殼和血迹斑斑的傳統武器——大刀長矛，並追回6把槍械。事發後數百名警察在衝突地點馬瑞卡那巡邏。鉑金礦在暴力事件開始時已停工。

隆明公司董事長羅傑·菲勒莫爾對礦工的死亡表示深感遺憾。但是他同時強調：“這是公共秩序的問題，而不是勞資糾紛的問題”。隆明公司的總部設於倫敦,佔有全球12%的白金出口市場。隆明鉑族金屬公司是世界第三大鉑金開採商，現有員工2.8萬多人，在南非北方的西北省和林波波省擁有鉑礦。（宗合）

■ 影響

“礦井屠殺”震驚南非

全國礦工工會稱有36人死亡，86人受傷。礦工和建築工會指責警方的“大屠殺行爲”。

南非總統雅各布·祖瑪對此事件感到“震驚和沮喪”，他結束了對莫桑比克的訪問於昨天到達了勒斯騰堡。

英國媒體報道稱，這是自1994年曼德拉結束三百年的白人統治，結束種族隔離制度以來最嚴重的一次血腥事件。南非各大報紙的頭條都赫然寫著“大屠殺”、“殺戮場”、“礦井屠宰”的標題，配以躺倒在地上的血迹斑斑的黑人男子和全副武裝的警察的圖片。電視中不斷重復播放的畫面讓一些南非人回想起了種族隔離時代警察射殺示威者的場面。


暴動求加薪 南非警方鎮不住射殺34礦工

【聯合報╱編譯陳世欽／報導】2012.08.18 05:50 pm

南非礦場罷工釀衝突 34死78傷 / 戴佳儀

南非爭取加薪而罷工的礦工16日與警方爆發衝突，警察開槍打死34名礦工。（法新社）

英國廣播公司17日報導，南非朗明白金公司在約翰尼斯堡西北方約100公里處的馬里卡納礦區，為爭取加薪而罷工的礦工16日與警方爆發衝突，警察因鎮壓不住而開槍，打死34名礦工，另有78名礦工受傷。這是南非廢除種族隔離制度以來，死傷最慘重的警民衝突。

大約3000名礦工稍早聚集在一處俯瞰礦區的山坡，要求資方加薪。警方奉命調派警力前往驅散。目擊者指出，警方是在部分礦工向他們急衝而至後開槍。警方稍早為了驅散礦工而動用水龍、催淚瓦斯與震撼彈，無效後開槍。警方發言人表示，員警為了自衛而開槍，舉措得當。警方以多項罪名逮捕259名礦工，當局並已展開調查。

6月才上任的南非首位女性警察總監斐亞嘉說：「身為指揮官，我下令警察執行他們的任務。我們沒有時間指責誰是誰非。警察迫於無奈，必須以武力保護自己。」

朗明公司最近與礦工發生嚴重的薪資爭執，南非2大工會之間的緊張對峙使問題更棘手，馬里卡納礦區是爭執的核心。警方是在無法驅散攜帶棍棒與開山刀的礦工之後開槍。南非是全球最大的白金產地，朗明公司則是全球第3大的白金開採商，去年在馬里卡納礦區遭逢類似的勞方抗爭，礦工集體罷工後，同年5月一口氣開除大約9000名礦工。這些工人目前月薪約合台幣1.4萬到1.8萬元，他們要求調高數倍達到合台幣4.5萬元。

礦工一星期前展開罷工，隨即與警方發生衝突，此前已經造成10人死亡，其中包括2名員警。

南非礦工與建築工會譴責警方對礦工肆行殺戮。南非總統祖馬聞訊立即縮短在莫三比克出席一項區域高峰會的行程，趕回現場善後。


南非白金礦場罷工 警自保射死34人

自由時報 2012-8-18

南非白金礦坑的礦工抗議薪資過低發起罷工，16日與要求結束罷工的警方爆發衝突，警方遇襲後開槍還擊，造成礦工至少34人喪生，現場留下多具血淋淋的屍體。（路透）

〔編譯陳維真／綜合報導〕南非白金礦場發生種族隔離制廢除之後最大的暴力衝突，約翰尼斯堡西北方約一百公里處的馬瑞康納白金礦場的礦工，因為要求資方加薪而罷工抗議長達一週，十六日再度與警方爆發衝突，警方為了自衛開槍掃射，造成三十四人死亡、七十八人受傷，當地媒體稱為「馬瑞康納大屠殺」。

馬瑞康納礦場礦工要求加薪 爆衝突

南非馬瑞康納的三千名礦工十日展開罷工，要求全球第三大白金生產商英國Lonmin公司替礦工加薪。礦工目前每月月薪僅四千南非幣（折合台幣一萬四千五百一十八元）。十日罷工剛開始時就已發生激烈衝突，當時罷工礦工手持刀、斧、長矛等武器示威，據稱還偷了好幾支槍。當天稍後，警方要求繳械，礦工就對警方發動攻擊，在槍戰過程中有十人在暴動中喪生，包括兩名警察。

十六日警察穿著防彈背心，有些還騎著馬，企圖驅離在礦坑附近紮營的礦工，甚至懇求礦工分散，放下手中武器，但是礦工不願配合，反而以大刀和矛斧棍棒衝向前攻擊警方，警方被迫先發射催淚瓦斯，之後開槍掃射。最後多具屍體動也不動地躺在地上，現場猶如戰場。

南非雖然是非洲最大經濟體，不過貧富不均、失業率居高不下，讓罷工、犯罪四起。然而，十六日的衝突仍讓南非人感到震驚，當地的媒體稱為「馬瑞康納大屠殺」，令人想起一九六○年南非沙佩維爾小鎮的屠殺事件，當時有六十九名反種族隔離的示威民眾遭警方打死。

全國礦工工會（ＮＵＭ）秘書長巴蘭尼指責立場激進的「礦工與建築工會」煽動礦工暴動。六月上任的南非第一位女性警察總監菲雅嘉表示，是她下令警方動武自保；她說，警方接獲消息稱示威礦工準備擴大事端，警方是為了自衛才被迫以武力對付抗議群眾。Lonmin公司的發言人拒絕承認這次事件是勞資爭議，宣稱只是公共秩序問題。

南非白金產量佔全球八成 期貨大漲

南非的白金出產量佔全球供給量的八成。市場擔憂礦坑的暴力衝突會造成供給受阻，推升紐約白金期貨價格十六日攀至一個月高點，來到每盎司一千四百三十五．二美元，創下近七週來最大單日漲幅。

ＮＵＭ是南非勢力最龐大的工會，南非執政的「非洲民族議會黨」（ＡＮＣ）的領導人不少是ＮＵＭ出身，包括ＡＮＣ現任秘書長以及副總統。南非總統祖瑪十七日取消出訪，前往現場視察，他對本案表示震驚，要求成立委員會調查，但迄今始終沒有譴責警方。


South Africa Lonmin mine killings: Zuma announces inquiry

BBC -- News Africa -- 18 August 2012 Last updated at 07:33 GMT

South African President Jacob Zuma has announced an inquiry into violence at a mine in the north-east of the country, calling the deaths there "tragic".

Thirty-four people were killed when police opened fire on striking platinum miners on Thursday.

At least 78 people were injured in the confrontation.

Mr Zuma, who cut short a visit to Mozambique to visit the scene, said he was "saddened and dismayed" at the "shocking" events.

"I am convinced that the Commission of Inquiry will uncover the truth and facts will emerge," he said in a statement after meeting police and injured workers.

Visibly distraught, he said it was not a time for finger-pointing but he would try to make sure such a loss of life never happened again.

The president said it was a "cornerstone of hard-won democracy" to allow for peaceful protests adding that it was now "a day for us to mourn together as a nation - a day to start rebuilding and healing".

The violence took place at a platinum mine in Marikana, owned by Lonmin.

The BBC's Milton Nkosi in Johannesburg says South Africans are shocked and bewildered by what happened - 18 years after the end of the brutal system of apartheid.

Wives of the missing miners have been frantically searching for their loved ones, he says.

Some of them were chanting on Friday an old song from the anti-apartheid struggle in the Xhosa language: "What have we done, what have we done to deserve this?"

They wanted to know why the police used such force against protesters who were mostly carrying machetes, spears and clubs.

'Maximum force'

A strike at the mine began a week ago and had claimed the lives of 10 people, including two police officers, before the incident on Thursday.

Police were then sent to break up 3,000 miners - some armed with clubs and machetes - who had gathered on a hillside overlooking Marikana to call for a pay rise of about $1,000 (£636) a month.

The circumstances that led police to open fire remain unclear, but reports from eyewitnesses suggest the shooting took place after a group of demonstrators rushed at a line of police officers.

Police, armed with automatic rifles and pistols, fired dozens of shots, witnesses said.

Police chief Riah Phiyega said officers "were forced to use maximum force to defend themselves".

She said 259 people had been arrested on various charges.

The Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (AMCU) accused the police of carrying out a massacre.

"There was no need whatsoever for these people to be killed like that," General Secretary Jeffrey Mphahlele told Reuters news agency.

The miners, who are currently earning between 4,000 and 5,000 rand ($484-$605), say they want their salary increased to 12,500 rand ($1,512).

South Africa is the largest platinum producer in the world and the dispute has already affected production.

Lonmin, the world's third-largest platinum producer, has encountered similar labour disputes at the Marikana mine.

In May 2011, the company sacked some 9,000 employees after what it described at the time as "unprotected industrial action". Lonmin and the NUM said all were later reinstated.


Analysis

Martin Plaut -- BBC World Service Africa editor

This strike was sparked by a demand for better wages. And - armed with spears and machetes - strikers were in no mood for compromise.

But it goes much deeper than that. The traditional union in the area, the NUM, is a key ally of the African National Congress. Their backing is critical for President Jacob Zuma in his fight to retain his position in the ANC's party elections this December.

Miners accuse their leaders of abandoning their grassroots concerns, focussing instead on politics. So they turned to an alternative union to fight their corner. But - as so often happens in South Africa - this dispute turned violent. Two police had been killed earlier in the week.

The 3,000 police who surrounded the hilltop on which a similar number of miners had gathered were determined not to join their dead comrades. It is in the culture of the force. As one former police commissioner said, they should "shoot to kill" without worrying about what happened after that.

South African commentators are comparing this tragedy to Sharpeville - when the police fired at a crowd in 1960 - leading to the start of the armed struggle against white minority rule. This comparison seems a step too far. But the country is facing the bleakest moment since the end of apartheid.


South African press condemns mine shooting

BBC -- News Africa --  17 August 2012 Last updated at 13:21 GMT

South African press commentators have voiced outrage at the fatal clashes at Lonmin's Marikana platinum mine near the South African capital, Pretoria. More than 30 people died when police opened fire on a crowd of several thousand striking miners.

While a majority of commentators express sadness and condemn the violence, some readers support the actions of the South African Police Service (SAPS). Several newspapers pin the blame for the violence on rival unions.

Press anger

The mine violence dominates the South African media. In an editorial headlined "African lives cheap as ever", the popular Johannesburg-based newspaper, The Sowetan, condemns the "calamity".

"This is an abnormal country in which all the fancy laws are enacted and the constitution is hailed as the best on earth. All the right noises are made and yet the value of human life, especially that of the African, continues to be meaningless. That's what Marikana means," the editorial says.

The paper calls for "drastic action", warning that the country could "see a snowball effect of this massacre".

The editorial has prompted many reader comments, with opinion split over who should be held responsible for the violence. Reader "somaartakeit" questions why the miners were "armed to the teeth" during the protest.

"Were police expected to wrap them up in the cotton wool as they destroy property and possibly more lives? Yesterday's blood bath could have been worse had the police not stood their ground against violent protesters who were brandishing machetes," the reader says.

Another reader, "HisnameisAstro!!!", also supports the police, saying: "The marchers that were shot were actually charging at the police before they were shot. I feel no sympathy for them... The union leaders should be held accountable."

'Horrifyingly familiar' scenes

An editorial in the privately-owned Times Live website says the scenes from Marikana were "horrifyingly familiar for all the wrong reasons".

"They seemed to be located in a past South Africa where stand-offs between police and civilians were ordinary sights. But this was no apartheid moment. These scenes are part of our present," the paper says.

The editorial directs blame at the two rival unions, the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) and the new Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (AMCU), which it says were "allowed to act with impunity and sacrifice the lives of their own members and others in a battle for supremacy".

A commentator in the national Business Day newspaper website says the shootings "have changed labour relations in the mining industry forever" and that this would further complicate "an already complicated mining regime". The writer adds the NUM has focused on its political connections with the ruling ANC "to the detriment of its core mandate".

A commentary in the privately-owed Mail & Guardian weekly, headlined: "A tinderbox of discontent", notes that "violence has become the modus operandi of such strikes, and Lonmin is no exception".


南非示威礦工依謀殺罪起訴

作者： 陳文和╱綜合報導 | 中時電子報 – 2012年9月1日 上午5:30

南非馬瑞康納白金礦區發生卅四名示威礦工遭鎮暴警察開槍射死慘劇後，檢方八月卅日竟援引種族隔離時代的舊法，以涉嫌謀殺罪名起訴二百七十名當日參與示威而被捕的礦工，引發南非法界與反對陣營齊聲撻伐。

南非司法部長拉德比隨後表示，起訴已引發司法界和社會公眾的「震驚、恐慌和困惑」，因此他須釐清作成此決定的依據，並已要求國家檢察署說明。

國家檢察署先前表示，檢方據以起訴的一九五六年《礦業與礦場作業法》（The Mines and Work Act）載明，罷工事件中若有人涉嫌手持槍械等武器與警方對抗或攻擊警方，且有開火及傷亡狀況發生，則得以該法起訴應負刑責者。

執政黨「非洲民族議會」青年黨部前主委馬雷瑪痛批說：「全世界都看到警方射殺示威礦工，而殺人的警察卻一個也沒被捕羈押」。


南非警屠殺 270礦工殺人罪起訴

自由時報 2012-9-1

司法部長要求檢方提出解釋

〔編譯陳維真／綜合報導〕南非馬瑞康納白金礦場八月中發生種族隔離制廢除之後最嚴重的暴力衝突，以罷工要求加薪的礦工遭到警方以自衛為由開槍射殺，造成三十四人死亡。但檢察官八月卅日竟以殺人罪名起訴兩百七十名礦工，令輿論譁然，舉國震驚。在龐大壓力下，南非司法部長三十一日要求檢方對此提出解釋。

這起衝突被當地媒體稱為「馬瑞康納大屠殺」，卅日檢方引用「共同目的」的條文起訴礦工，主張這些手持武器的礦工因為挑釁警方，才引發警方開槍自衛槍殺礦工，因此被捕礦工是殺人案的共謀。「共同目的」自種族隔離結束後已經鮮少使用，當年南非白人政府垮台前以此來對付爭取種族平等的社會運動人士。

遭到起訴的兩百七十名礦工中，仍有六名因為槍傷在醫院接受治療。有些手上沒拿武器，或只是站在人群後面的礦工也遭到起訴。當地媒體報導，驗屍報告指出，許多遭到警方射殺身亡的礦工都是背部中彈。南非獨立申訴處表示有一百五十名被警方逮捕的礦工，投訴在警局拘留室遭到毆打與嚴刑逼供。

法律專家抨擊檢方此舉只會激怒礦工，讓情勢更加緊張，而且認為起訴最終會遭到法院駁回。開普敦大學的法律學者德沃斯表示，檢察官為了保護警方或警員，公然濫用司法體系，令人震驚。律師瑟竹表示「共同目的」是過時又惡名昭彰的惡法。「非洲民族議會黨」的青年聯盟前主席馬雷瑪表示，檢方起訴礦工簡直是瘋了。「全世界都看到是警察殺人」，但沒有半個警察因此遭到拘留。

南非總統祖瑪與執政的「非洲民族議會黨」在事件爆發後面臨莫大壓力。許多人認為政府只想自保，不管礦工死活。南非政府已對此事件展開調查，調查報告預計要至明年一月才會出爐，在此之前會先保留對警方的懲處。

全球第三大白金生產商英國Lonmin公司因為暴動事件已經被迫中斷礦坑營運近三個禮拜。Lonmin原本有兩萬八千名的人力，卅日只有七％的員工上工。勞資調解經過兩天的協商仍未能達成共識，將延至下週一繼續進行。