Post-mortem analysis of the shooting at Marikana has revealed startling new evidence, showing that the death of the 36 protestors at the hands of the police may not have been due to the police acting in self-defense. This is contrary to earlier reports that have stated that police retaliated at a small group charging at them with machetes.

The post-mortem reports are showing the three-minute long hailstorm of gunfire to have been unneccessary as the threat posed to police was not as great as first thought. Autopsies performed on victims of the shooting show that many were not charging the police, but in fact trying to get away from them.

According to a police source, The Star newspaper reported:

The post-mortem reports indicate that most of the people were fleeing from the police when they got killed. A lot of them were shot in the back and the bullets exited through their chests. Only a few people were found to be shot from the front.

This is just another aspect of many that will need to be considered by the commission of enquiry into the shooting, along with video footage and eyewitness reports as the judicial commission fulfills its four month mandate. Police officials are refusing to confirm or deny these latest allegations, although we do know that the Independent Police Directorate are investigating the deaths as murders.

Large numbers of workers continue to gather outside the mine.

[Source: RT]