BY NAOMI CRAINE
Tens of thousands of miners have been striking, occupying coal pits, and demonstrating in Germany since March 7, in opposition to government austerity measures. The protests began after Chancellor Helmut Kohl's government announced drastic cuts in subsidies to the coal industry, which the miners' union, IG Bergbau, says will eliminate half of the country's 90,000 coal mining jobs.

Demonstrations have been held across the Ruhr Valley, in several cases blocking major roads. In Saarland, an industrial state near the French border, miners blocked a highway March 9 with a mound of coal, in which they stuck crosses bearing the names of previously closed mines. Some 5,000 miners rallied that day at the coal mine in Goettelborn, following a similarly sized demonstration by workers in Duesseldorf March 8.

Thousands of miners converged on Bonn to demonstrate March 10, and 13,000 strikers blocked the parliament building the next day, when talks between Kohl and IG Bergbau officials were scheduled. The chancellor called off the negotiations at the last minute, complaining that the demonstrations by the miners near his office would put the government under undue pressure to compromise.

"We are here!" and "Kohl must go!" chanted the miners, who were reluctant to leave when union officials told them to go home for the day. Negotiations were rescheduled for March 13, and the union called another mass demonstration in Bonn for that day.  
 
 
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