Today is the first day that no incidents were reported from the violence-stricken Marikana mine in the North West, police said this morning. Chaos erupted on Friday when thousands of Lonmin miners started an illegal work stoppage and protest march. Since then 10 people – two police officers, two security guards, three protesters, and three others – have been killed.

Not a single arrest has been made yet.

It is still unclear what sparked the violent attacks which flared up during an illegal strike by some 3 000 rock drill operators from the mine. Rivalry between the National Union of Mineworkers (Num) and the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (Amcu) was initially blamed for the killings, but miners now want their salaries tripled.

Strikers on Tuesday told EWN they earned a monthly salary of R4 000 and said they would demand R12 500 for all workers. But Lonmin management says they had not yet received any demands, and miners have not voiced their grievances, leading them to believe clashes were started by criminal elements.

In the meantime, people keep dying.

Here are some images of the clashes over the past couple of days. Please keep in mind that some of them might not be for sensitive viewers:

[Source: News24, EWN]