So waiting to arrest people is criminal? The miners were not prevented from leaving, they were aware that they would be arrested, and refused to or were prevented from leaving, by their own bosses.
As so often, the police is deployed, not to protect people, but to protect the property of the wealthy. While the mining might be linked to organized crime, I have to wonder what exactly the crime is here. The entire criminality is based on the premise of individuals and corporations owning the mineral rights. But if you go down the rabbit hole of the provenance of those mineral rights, you will find crime upon crime upon crime. But crimes by the wealthy are usually met with admonishment, a stern warning, a slap on the wrist, a negligible fine, and barely concealed admiration. Crimes by the poor can lead to loss of freedom, loss of livelihood, even, as we see here, loss of life.
So waiting to arrest people is criminal? The miners were not prevented from leaving, they were aware that they would be arrested, and refused to or were prevented from leaving, by their own bosses.
As so often, the police is deployed, not to protect people, but to protect the property of the wealthy. While the mining might be linked to organized crime, I have to wonder what exactly the crime is here. The entire criminality is based on the premise of individuals and corporations owning the mineral rights. But if you go down the rabbit hole of the provenance of those mineral rights, you will find crime upon crime upon crime. But crimes by the wealthy are usually met with admonishment, a stern warning, a slap on the wrist, a negligible fine, and barely concealed admiration. Crimes by the poor can lead to loss of freedom, loss of livelihood, even, as we see here, loss of life.