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August 31, 2012

South Africa Charges Miners in Mass Killing 
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The South African government has sparked outrage after bringing charges
against striking miners for the killings of 34 colleagues earlier this
month, despite the fact they were shot dead by police. The victims were
killed more than a week after walking off the job at the Marikana
platinum mine in a call for higher pay. Police say they opened fire
after workers tried to attack them with machetes, but the miners have
accused the police of committing a massacre. The shooting marked the
worst mass killing in South Africa since the end of apartheid. But on
Thursday, the South African government invoked an apartheid-era "common
purpose law" to charge 270 miners for their colleagues' deaths.

 

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