PROTESTING miners who set off en masse from Aragón, Asturias and Castilla y León on June 22 have reached the Madrid region.

They are heading for the capital, where they intend to speak personally to minister of industry, José Manuel Soria, about his plans to shut down a large number of the country's coal mines.

Since they began their demonstrations on May 23, numerous major roads and railway lines have been blocked off by human chains and barricaded with concrete posts, fallen trees and piles of bricks.

A woman and a little girl were injured when the disturbances became violent on Thursday in Pola de Lena (Asturias), whilst last month six miners staged a lock-in at the provincial council offices in León.

The headquarters of various PP offices in the region of Asturias have been decorated with graffiti in black, and a month ago two officers were injured and 30 miners arrested in Grado (Asturias) when a demonstration got out of hand.

Mayors of mining towns and villages in the three autonomous regions – irrespective of their political colours, and many being PP members who are miners by trade – staged lock-ins last week at their town halls, whilst various pit workers did the same in their mines.

So far, the protesters heading south from Asturias and Castilla y León have reached the town of Collado de Villalba and those coming from the province of Teruel (Aragón) have made it to Alcalá  Meco, both in the region of Madrid.