Human Rights Group Alleges Murder & Cover-up: South Africa Miners Killed by Police were Trying to Surrender

From [HERE] and [HERE] Witnesses say that some of the 34 striking miners who South African police shot and killed last month were trying to surrender.

The Legal Resource Center (LRC) human rights group told Al Jazeera that several witnesses said police shot and killed protesters who were trying to escape. Some of them were trying to hide behind rocks and some attempted to surrender to authorities. The LRC also said it has forensic evidence that suggests a police cover-up of the killings. 

On August 16, police opened fire on a crowd of miners engaged in a strike at the Lonmin platinum mine in Marikana.Video showed a densely packed crowd of miners, some armed with clubs and machetes, approaching heavily armed police, who claimed self-defence in the shooting.The incident was the climax of an escalating stand-off between rival unions that had already killed 10 people, including two police officers.

Video footage showed a large crowd of miners, some armed with clubs and machetes, advancing towards police lines on August 16. Police claimed they shot the miners out of self-defense.

Last week, 270 miners who were being held on murder charges were released pending a further investigation.

Danny Titus, a representative of the South African Human Rights Commission, told Al Jazeera that the organisation was very concerned with allegations of human rights violations."We are really concerned about the allegations coming from the miners, really giving us so much detail about what really happened," he said.

Titus added that if the allegations were proven to be true, it would suggest that the workers were shot "out of vengeance"."

There was not a crowd-control approach [by police]. These police already went before parliament to explain themselves, and one of the first kind of defences they put forward was the fact they did not have training in crowd-control very high in their priority, which is very strange."

"And beyond that there are further allegations of torture [of striking miners].

"Meanwhile, striking mine workers say they will not return to work until their demand for more pay is met, the leader of a key union said.Workers are facing a Monday deadline to return to the Lonmin PLC mines, paralysed by a four-week strike that has sent company shares plummeting, raised world platinum prices and stoked worries of labour unrest spreading through the mining sector of Africa's largest economy."When the employer is prepared to make an offer on the table, we shall make ourselves available," Joseph Mathunjwa, president of Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (AMCU), told a news conference on Friday. [MORE]