Police firing at striking workers in S. Africa: trade union

Police fired at striking workers who were protesting peacefully outside Hendrina Power station in South Africa's eastern Mpumalanga Provine, injuring several of them, the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) said on Thursday.

The NUM strongly condemns the action and attitudes of the police who had randomly fired rubber bullets and assaulted the striking workers, NUM national spokesperson Livhuwani Mammburu said.

But police did not make comments on the allegations.

"The workers who were protesting peacefully were provoked by the police who fired rubber bullets and several of our members were injured," he said.

One NUM member is currently in hospital with a broken leg after being allegedly assaulted by the police, Mammburu said.

The NUM is going to open a case against the police, he said.

The shooting of striking workers continued this morning at Hendrina and Tutuka Power Stations in Mpumalanga, Mammburu said.

The NUM members will not be intimidated by the police, he said.

"The NUM is extremely disappointed at the action of the police. We call on the police to stop assaulting and shooting our members for protesting peacefully," said Mammburu.

NUM members' right to strike is enshrined in the constitution of South Africa, he noted.

All members of NUM at power stations across the country went on a strike on Wednesday, joining workers who downed tools at three power stations on Monday.

The workers began the strike after power utility Eskom rejected their demand for pay increases between eight to 10 percent, and a 3,000 rand (225 U.S.dollars) housing allowance.

The NUM has about 15,000 members at Eskom -- almost a third of the company's workforce of 47,000.

The full-blown strike may effect electricity output at the utility's power plants.

On Tuesday, Eskom celebrated one year of no load shedding in the country that had been hit by constant blackouts that began in November 2014. Endit