Striking Chilean copper miners on Monday burnt vehicles, attacked a tollbooth and clashed with police near the city of Rancagua in a dispute over pay and working conditions, police said.

The miners burnt buses, a truck and a police vehicle in a series of incidents on the road linking the Los Maitenes mining complex to Rancagua.

At least 47 arrests followed the incidents, which began after 28,000 workers at state company National Copper Corporation went on strike earlier on Monday demanding better labor conditions for subcontractors and a productivity bonus.

At El Teniente, the world's largest copper mine which produces 400,000 tons a year, all 8,000 sub-contracted workers walked out.

More than one thousand workers marched to the Heroes Square in Rancagua and were holding a meeting there to discuss future steps of the movement.

Organizers of the strike said the strike will last until their demands are met, adding that there were no workers at the leading mines of El Teniente, Andina and Ventanas and Chuquicamata and El Salvador would soon follow.

Government spokesperson Ricardo Lagos Weber, however, told reporters that "there is no strike because it would be illegal. There is no halt to activities either." The government blamed the violence on people who are not employees of the company.

Source: Xinhua