南非警察向罷工礦工開槍造成至少30死亡大綱

South Africa's police ministry says at least 30 people were killed Thursday, when officers opened fire on striking workers at a platinum mine.

A ministry official said Friday that police opened fire with automatic weapons at the Lonmin PLC mine, about 120 kilometers northwest of Johannesburg.

Around 3,000 people have walked off the job in the past week over a pay dispute. Lonmin issued a statement earlier Thursday, warning workers they would be dismissed if they did not return to work by Friday. After the clashes, the management issued a statement saying some of the strikers were armed.

Prior to Thursday's deadly clash, 10 people, including two police officers had been killed in violence related to the mine strike.

Lonmin is the world's third largest platinum producer.南非警備部說，南非警察星期四向一個鉑金礦的罷工工人開槍，打死至少30人。

南非警備部官員星期五說，警察使用自動武器向隆明公司鉑金礦的工人開槍。這座鉑金礦位於約翰內斯堡西北方大約120公里。

這場罷工是薪酬爭端引起的，大約3千名工人蔘加了罷工。隆明公司星期四早些時候發表聲明警告工人說，如果他們不復工，就將被開除。衝突結束後，該礦管理機構發表聲明說，一些罷工工人帶有武器。

在星期四的衝突之前，與礦工罷工有關的暴力衝突已經造成十人死亡，其中包括兩名警察。

隆明公司的鉑金出產量位居世界第三。