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The New York Times reports that “South Africa’s police commissioner [Ria Phiyega] defended the actions of officers who opened fire on miners a day earlier in an episode that, she said, killed 34 people and wounded 78 during a wildcat strike at a platinum mine . . . ‘The militant group stormed towards the police firing shots and wielding dangerous weapons. Previous attempts by the 500-strong police force to repel them with rubber bullets, water cannons and stun grenades had failed.” TTAG reader CMAJEFF writes: “I don’t know if these miners where charging with machetes but a charge against armed police wasn’t going to end well. Just wonder if this incident would have ended differently if they’d been armed citizens, peacefully demonstrating.”