Belarusian miner cuffs himself to express protest
MINSK. Sept 10 (Interfax) - Soligorsk miner Yury Korzun has cuffed himself to a piece of mining equipment and has refused to leave the mine until his demands are met, the Belaruskali strike committee said on Thursday.
The strike committee published the miner's letter to the Belaruskali general director that presented a list of demands to the Belaruskali management and the Belarusian authorities.
"I demand that intimidation and dismissals of working people stop immediately, all members of the company's strike committee be released from custody, abductions of the republic's citizens by unknown persons be ruled out, physical reprisals against peaceful protesters stop, and Alexander Lukashenko who illegally holds the position of the chief of state resign," Korzun said in his letter.
The foreman and the Belaruskali chief engineer went to meet with the miner at the depth of 305 meters, the strike committee said.
The strike committee said later that force had been used against the miner. The handcuffs were cut off, and the protester was carried out of the mine. Korzun was taken to the Soligorsk hospital. His supporters headed to the hospital, too.
The Belaruskali administration neither denied nor confirmed the information from the strike committee. "We are looking into the situation and will issue a press release later," assistant to the Belaruskali general director Vadim Shumak told Interfax.
Employees of a number of Belarusian enterprises went on strikes and took part in other forms of peaceful protest after the publication of results of the Belarusian presidential administration. The media said on August 17 that all Belaruskali mines had stopped operation, as workers had gone on strike. It became known later that the strike was only partial.
Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said on August 21 that Belaruskali strikers might be replaced with miners from other countries, such as Ukraine.
The Belaruskali administration said later that the company was running at its full capacity since August 20 and would produce over 1 million tonnes of potash fertilizers in August 2020, which is 3% more than in August 2019.
Belaruskali JSC is 100% owned by the government. Its share on the global potassium chloride market neared 20% in 2019.