WARSAW, March 24 (AP) Polish coal miners angry at a European Union directive aimed at reducing methane emissions protested loudly Friday before the European Union’s office in Warsaw said they would be stripped of their jobs.
About 300 miners chanted “thieves” and used smoke bombs and sirens to draw attention to their protest in the urban area of the Polish capital. Traffic in the area is temporarily closed.
Protesting miners from the Solidarity 80 union say recent climate proposals for the 27-member European Union calling for sharp cuts in methane emissions from 2027 will force most of the country’s mines to close and cost tens of thousands of jobs.
Most mines in Poland contain large amounts of methane gas, which is released during coal mining. It can also lead to serious mining accidents because methane can explode when mixed with low ratios of oxygen.
The coal mines, located in the southern Silesian region, are among Poland’s major employers, providing around 77,000 jobs in the country of 38 million people. (Associated Press)
(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from a Syndicated News feed, the body of content may not have been modified or edited by LatestLY staff)
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