Belarus: Mining has stopped at the Belaruskaliy mines

In the mines of the Belarusian potash company Belaruskalij, where strikes are underway in connection with the situation after the presidential elections, production has been suspended, informs the independent Belarusian portal Tut.by, citing miners’ reports.

“The workers are threatened with layoffs, there are psychological pressures. But we are not going to give up. We have prepared demands,” one of the mine workers told the service. As he added, they will be handed over to the general director of the concern.

At 3 p.m. (2 p.m. in Poland), the striking miners are to gather in the main square in Salihorsk, and then they will go to the director – he wrote Tut.by.

Maksim Pozniakov, head of the Belarusian Independent Trade Union, told the Russian TASS agency that production had already stopped. “Strike committees have been established in all mines, mines are standing, people have not gone to the mines, ore is not being mined” – he stressed.

In turn, Yuri Zakharov, the head of the mining union, told Reuters that the last work to shut down production was underway and that the plant would be completely shut down in at least 24 hours.

Tut.by reminds that on Friday employees of the Belaruskaliy concern threatened to suspend work in the event of failure to meet their demands on Monday morning. The miners are calling for new elections, the release of all political prisoners and the resignation of those who perpetrated the violence in the country. According to the website, workers announced on Monday that they would stop production.

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