BONN - The German Chancellor, Dr Kohl, locking horns with angry miners, refused yesterday to discuss bold plans by his government to slash subsidies to Germany's coal industry unless protests come to a halt.
Dr Kohl personally picked up the telephone to call Mr Hans Berger, leader of the lG Bergau und Energie miners' union, to tell him that he was putting off talks on the issue to tomorrow.
The two men were supposed to meet yesterday, the fifth day of a national miners' strike that has seen the centre of Bonn being overtaken by Kumpels, German slang for the men who work the coal seams.