1 killed in South Africa miners riot

Police fired tear gas, water cannons and rubber bullets at striking workers after they started to riot at Impala Platinum’s Rustenberg plant, the world largest platinum mine, in South Africa. Earlier, police said one man had been stripped naked and beaten to death by a mob outside the plant on Thursday night. Up to 5,000 miners then blocked the road leading to the plant and began hurling stones at police. At least 50 officers backed by armored vehicles and helicopters moved into a shantytown near the mine, where rioting miners had set fire to several houses. A provincial spokeswoman said that police had made eight arrests but that the situation remained tense. Impala Platinum sacked around 17,000 workers after they went on strike over pay in January. Since then production at the plant, located in South Africa’s northwest, ground to a halt, causing world platinum prices to rise by seven per cent.