Lonmin shooting: South Africans use social to mourn, vent, debate

South Africa is reeling after a shootout between police and striking miners Marikana, Rustenburg left 35 people dead.

A number of the miners were reportedly armed when they charged toward police lines, after pleas from union leaders to put a halt to the action failed. It is unclear however who fired first.

There has been serious activity across social media channels with Twitter the most active, causing South Africa to briefly trend globally.

For a number of people, the shooting was reminder of other violent incidents in the country’s past:

Others sympathised with the police:

Some however just mourned the loss of life and the consequences the shooting would have for the families who lost lives:

South African President Jacob Zuma also came under fire after failing to return to the country from a conference in Mozambique:

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