Coal Miners' protests get more violent as rockets fired at a Civil Guard helicopter

The coal miners’ strike is continuing and the protests are getting more dramatic. They have been on strike since May 30 after the announcement of a 60% cut in the grants for coal, announced in the State Budget. It’s a cut of 200 million € and many of the man are the third generation in the mines. The document will be debated later this week in the upper chamber of the Senate, but already the miners say they are disappointed as no member of the PP has added any amendment. A miner has been arrested for launching rockets against a Guardia Civil helicopter in Asturias, although the exact location of where that happened has not been released. We know the rockets did not hit the craft and the miner will appear in court shortly. Protests in the region today saw at least ten roads and three railway lines blocked by barricades, according to the Government Delegation. Six miners remain underground in Teruel in protest at the cuts, and a union representative says they will not come up until a solution is found. The P.P. Mayor of Ponferrada, Carlos López Riesco, who has not been supporting the claims of the coal industry, had to take refuge in a bar after being attacked by miners in the street.