Police fire rubber bullets at South African miners

Police firing rubber bullets and tear gas sent men, women and children scattering as they herded them into their shacks in a crackdown on striking miners at a platinum mine.

Today’s show of force follows a South African government vow to halt illegal protests and disarm strikers who have stopped work at one gold and six platinum mines north-west of Johannesburg. The strikes have destabilised South Africa’s critical mining sector.