Posts Tagged ‘Miners’

في الواجهة – ثورة المناجم – الجزء الثاني

Part I of the documentary is here…

في الواجهة – ثورة المناجم – الجزء الأول

Chile no stranger to tragedy

Chile mine rescue may take months

Mexican miners fight for survival

The miners of Jerada

Menya miners released إخلاء سبيل 43 متهماً فى مظاهرات عمال المحاجر بالمنيا

Judge orders the release of 43 protestors from police custody, who were detained following Thursday miners’ riots…

Mabrouk!

Furious miners, dead police

Al-Masry Al-Youm reports on the Menya miners’ clashes…

Fifty-three protesters were detained in the city of Al Minya, Upper Egypt, when quarry workers and owners clashed with police, leading to the death of a policeman and thousands of workers and security injured.
The southern city is almost quiet again, except for the intense security measures. Now, most of the main roads are blocked, especially a bridge spanning the Nile, where the clashes took place.
The prosecutor has charged detainees with rioting, murder, blocking the main road, and disruption of the traffic, and has called on the forensic team to decide on the autopsy of the dead policeman.
The protesters marched into Al Minya, 210 kilometers south of Cairo, last Thursday, to protest against a decision by the authorities to impose new duties on quarried rock.
The government had imposed duties of LE 40 per ton of quarried stone, leading some quarries to shut down and lay off their laborers.
Protesters told Al Masry Al Youm that they held the demonstration because petitions to officials had been ignored and some quarries had been shut for more than two weeks.
However, in an interview to Al Masry Al Youm, Ahmed Diaa El Din, governor of Al Minya, said, “The new accounting system for these quarries was decided upon by the local council in the presence of 10 representatives from quarry owners and no one objected; now we are surprised to see them protesting.”
A health official in Al Minya said there are over twenty policemen and workers still hospitalized, while others recovered and were released yesterday.

Yes, for those of you who are asking, the Menya Governor is the we-torture-only-five-in-a-thousand dude…

UPDATE: Prosecutor has ordered the detention of 43 miners pending investigation…

Prosecutor investigates Menya clashes نيابة المنيا تبدأ تحقيقاتها مع عمال المحاجر

The Menya Prosecutor has opened an investigation into the miners’ clashes that left one Central Security Forces conscript dead and dozens of workers and police troops injured.

Industrial Action Updates

The Tanta Flax and Oil strikers tried today to re-take the building of their trade union, which was confiscated by the management around a year ago, but were prevented by the police. The building, I’m told, is roughly 15 minutes away from the company compound. The workers and the management ended up in the police station filing charges against one another. The prosecution is expected to look into the cases on Saturday.

In other developments, thousands of miners in the Upper Egyptian province of El-Menya have cut the freeway, demonstrating against the Governor…

UPDATE: Here is a report by Reuters…

Thousands of quarry workers clash with Egypt police
CAIRO, July 16 (Reuters) – Several people were injured after thousands of quarry workers and owners clashed with police in Egypt on Thursday in the central province of al-Minya, security sources and witnesses said.
The protesters marched into al-Minya city and blocked a bridge spanning the Nile and connecting the east and west of the city, in protest against a decision by the authorities to impose new duties on quarried rock, security sources said.
Police used teargas to disperse the crowd, but the protesters stoned police.
Reports of the number injured varied. One security source said at least eight riot police had been wounded, and 17 protesters were suffering the effects of teargas inhalation.
The website of the independent daily al-Masry al-Youm said the government had imposed duties of 40 Egyptian pounds ($7.17) per tonne of quarried stone, leading some quarries to shut down and lay off their labourers.
Protesters said they had resorted to the demonstration because petitions to various officials had been ignored and some quarries had been shut for more than two weeks, according to the website.
Labour unrest has become common in Egypt, usually over pay, and often in privatised companies. Even professional groups such as doctors, pharmacists and lawyers have stopped work or threatened strikes over pay.

UPDATE: A Central Security Forces soldier has died from injuries sustained in the clashes with the miners, Al-Masry Al-Youm reports…

UPDATE: Police source tells Reuters 48 protestors were detained.