Chinese miners block railway

As many as 10,000 miners and their families have blocked a railway line in north-east China demanding nearly a year and a half of unpaid wages.

Hundreds of police are reported to have been sent to the scene, at Jishu village in Jilin province, and local officials are trying to negotiate an end to the stand-off.

If the reported figures are accurate this is one of the biggest labour protests in China in recent months.

The miners occupied a station and have blocked the mainline to Harbin - the biggest city in China's far north-east.

They are reported to be demanding 30 months of unpaid wages.

Protests grow

An official of the state-run mine where they work told the French news agency, AFP, that the mine cannot pay its workers because it is unable to sell its coal.

She denied that corruption in the mine's management was the reason for non-payment of salaries and pensions.

BBC correspondent Rupert Wingfield-Hayes says such protests are becoming increasingly common, especially in China's north-east, centre of its antiquated state-run heavy industries.

Millions of workers in the north-east have been laid off over the last decade of economic reform.

By some estimates there are now as many as 100,000 worker protests in China every year and their size and frequency is growing.