[olympiaworkers] Spanish miners block highway, railway

Sept. 10, 2010

BEMBIBRE, Spain (AFP) – About 150 miners and their supporters temporarily
blocked a highway and railroad in northern Spain Friday with burning tires
and other objects to protest against unpaid wages.

The protesters placed rocks and set fires to several car tires sending
black smoke billowing into the sky on a stretch of the railway near the
town of Bembibre, an AFP photographer on the scene said.

The protest caused delays for three regional trains transporting over 200
passengers, railroad officials said.

The miners also blocked traffic on a nearby highway by sitting on the road
and overturning heavy metal carts used to move coal in the mines before
police arrived and they dispersed.

Miners in several parts of Spain are protesting over unpaid wages and to
demand government aid to the coal industry.

Fifty miners have since September 2 refused to leave a coal mine 500
metres (1,650 feet) underground near Guardo in the northern Palencia
province until they receive the salaries they are owed for August from
mining company Union Minera del Norte (Uminsa).

They are also calling for a guaranteed level of coal purchases so as to
ensure that Spanish coal-fired power stations buy domestic coal rather
than imports.