From: "antorcha" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Date: Sat, 19 May 2001 18:20:42 +0200 To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: Spain: two miners injured in the brutal police attack HelpFrom http://www.antorcha.org/ Communist Party of Spain (reconstuituted) On Thursday, workers in the anthracite sector in Leon began their fourth day of strike against the cancelling of the agreement [on working conditions] which affects 2,000 coal miners, and against the removal of community subsidies from 2010, announced by the European Community. During Thursday morning, the mercenaries of the Civil Guard used rubber bullets and gas canisters to prevent a picket of some 200 miners from blocking the Northeast motorway at San Roman de Bembibre, though the traffic was interrupted for more than half an hour some 30 kilometres either side of this pount, in the area around Villafranca del Bierzo, where to lorry loads of sand were emptied onto the road, and in Ventas de Albares. The Civil Guard got as far as the entrance to the village of Bembibre, where the workers met them with stone. On many occasions, the Civil Guard attacked the miners picket which was blocking the motorway with barricades, while other pickets were blocking traffic at other points of the same motorway, on the trunk roads N-VI and N-120. The miners succeeded in partially blocking the old National trunk road N-VI and the area of Toreno in Bembibre, as well as the access routes to Bierzo alto de la Torre, Tremor and Igueña coalfield. The miners also maintain road blocks on all the access routes to the thermal centres of Allares (Páramo del Sil) and Compostilla (Cubillos del Sil). Different groups of pickets were posted on the C-631 highway at Matarrosa del Sil and prevented lorries laden with coal and buses with workers for the first morning shift at the thermal centres from getting through. In addition, the miners also prevented the workers of Coto Minero del Sil, in the Fabero-Sil coalfield, from getting to the coal face for the 8am shift. The Fabero-Sil and El Bierzo Alto coalfields remained paralysed by the miners action, along with coal firms which did not come under the provincial anthracite agreement [on working conditions]. The confrontations between Civil Guard henchmen and the miners ended with three workers being arrested and two injured in the brutal police attack. One of those detained received a blow to the face, while another miner, Jorge Ramírez, received another blow to the eye with a rubber bullet which resulted in loss of sight. On the same Thursday, in the afternoon, the last two miners held in custody because of their participation in the pickets, were set free. _________________________________________________ KOMINFORM P.O. Box 66 00841 Helsinki Phone +358-40-7177941 Fax +358-9-7591081 http://www.kominf.pp.fi General class struggle news: [EMAIL PROTECTED] subscribe mails to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Geopolitical news: [EMAIL PROTECTED] subscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] __________________________________________________
