Europe

Home page

Europe

28 arrested in Siberian mining town protests

16 May 2010 01:19 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. Police have arrested 28 people for blocking a rail road during protests in the mining town of Mezhdurechensk in western Siberia, head of the regional police forces said, APA reports quoting RIA Novosti.
Miners and their relatives were rallying against the owners of the Raspadaskaya coalmine near Mezhdurechensk, where two explosions on the night of May 8-9 killed at least 66 people.
Alexander Elin said 17 police officers and 5 protestors were injured during clashes on the railroad.
The Russian Railways press service said a number of trains were delayed by several hours because the railroad was blocked by protestors.
Some 300 people protested in an unsanctioned rally in Mezhdurechensk on Friday against the owners of Raspadskaya mine. The protesters complained of low wages and lax enforcement of safety regulations.
Kemerovo Region Governor Aman Tuleyev on Saturday blamed the fatal accident at the Raspadskaya coalmine on the owners of the mine, saying they were answerable to questions of safety and technology.
Search operations in the mine were halted on Thursday amid fears of further blasts, although 24 people are still unaccounted for.