In Gukovo, number of miners on hunger strike reaches 65

In the Rostov Region, 65 people take place in the hunger strike. They demanded to pay off the wage arrears to employees of the enterprises of the "Kingcoal" group of companies. According to the protesters, the debt to them amounts to 103,000-260,000 roubles.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that the enterprises of the "Kingcoal" group of companies are at different stages of bankruptcy. Pickets and meetings with the authorities have failed to solve the problem of multimillion-rouble debts.

According to Dmitry Kovalenko, a member of the initiative group to coordinate the miners' protest actions, it was initially supposed to carry out a hunger strike in groups of about ten people. However, then it was decided that every protestor will continue hunger strike at home in order to avoid possible provocations.

Dmitry Kovalenko has noted that on August 23, an ambulance crew refused to come to one of the hunger-strikers.

"That fact suggests that they were instructed not to react to a hunger strike," believes the hunger-striker.

Lyubov Zhuravlyova, a wife of a miner, has stated that she made a decision to take part in the protest action to protect the rights of her husband, who himself cannot participate in the hunger strike for health reasons. However, by the evening of August 22, her health began to deteriorate. The woman has stopped her hunger strike at the request of the members of the initiative group.

Full text of the article is available on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’.