Water cannons used against miners at Polyak: Workers breach barricades to enter the mine
Striking miners at the Polyak facility have faced gendarmerie intervention involving water cannons and tear gas as they move to occupy the site following rejected demands over unpaid wages.
The protest by Polyak mine workers, led by the Independent Miners' Union (Bağımsız Maden-İş), continues into its tenth day. The workers, who are campaigning against unpaid wages for the past month and a half and the usurpation of their rights, demanded that the management of the mine be transferred to the workers instead of the current Chinese operating company. However, the employer's side rejected this proposal.
Following the rejection of the offer by the management, workers gathered in front of the mine for the afternoon shift and moved to enter the premises. Bağımsız Maden-İş Organising Specialist Başaran Aksu, in a statement made in front of the mine, explained the process of the proposal submitted to the employer, stating:
"We will go in, sit at the assembly point, and discuss. We will evaluate the offer made and reach a collective decision there. A representative chosen by the workers and our lawyers will shuttle between the workers' questions and the management. We will discuss the questions again. We will make a public statement. This will be our conduct once we enter."
Intervention with tear gas and water cannons
Union Branch President Gökay Çakır announced that the proposal had not been accepted, declaring: "Our time has come; we are going inside." As the workers attempted to enter the mine site during their shift hours, gendarmerie teams established barricades and intervened.
The workers were met with pressurised water from anti-riot vehicles (TOMA) and tear gas. Following the ensuing scuffle, union officials and a group of workers managed to breach the gendarmerie barricade on the road leading to the shaft and successfully entered the mine site. Reacting to the intervention, the miners protested the situation, saying: "We are being barred from the very mine where we have worked for years."
Bağımsız Maden-İş Organising Specialist Başaran Aksu was taken into custody.
In a mass message sent to the workers by the company management, it was claimed that the unpaid wages and arrears would be paid "as soon as possible." Seeking to resolve the grievances by calling on workers to "resign," the employer's side promised that severance, notice, and leave payments would be made to those who agreed to leave their jobs.
