In a crackdown on striking miners condemned by the South African Council of Churches, police fired rubber bullets and tear gas that sent men, women and children scattering as officers herded them into their shacks.

Saturday's show of force follows a government vow to halt illegal protests and disarm strikers who have stopped work at one gold and six platinum mines, destabilizing the country's critical mining sector.

It was the first police action since officers killed 34 miners on Aug. 16 in state violence that shocked the nation.

It was not known how many people were hurt in the violence at the London-registered Lonmin platinum mine. Six women were hit by rubber bullets and one had to be hospitalized, Anglican Bishop Jo Seoka, president of the Council of Churches, reported in a furious statement.

He warned of serious repercussions and said he was holding the government and Lonmin PLC responsible.

"Government must be crazy believing that what to me resembles an apartheid-era crackdown can succeed," Seoka said. "We must not forget that such crackdowns in the past led to more resistance and government can ill afford to be seen as the enemy of the people that they put in power."

Seoka, who also is head of the Bench Marks Foundation that put out a damning report last month about miners' living and working conditions, said the strike had just cause and was not the work of instigators, as some have suggested.

"The problem will not go away even if this crackdown wins the present battle," he said. "The 'war' between workers who do not receive just remuneration against the enormous amounts of money paid to executives will continue to fester."

Seoka said the government was destroying four weeks of mediation in which he has taken part. He called for minimal policing of strikers.

The strikers planned a march Sunday on the police station of the nearest town, Rustenburg, about 60 miles (100 kilometers) northwest of Johannesburg. Trucks carrying soldiers were seen driving to the area, indicating the army may also get involved.

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Editor's Note: Meanwhile, the highest paid teachers in the United States are on strike...the labor unions, cowards that they are, are nowhere to be found in South Africa...


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