ISTANBUL, April 22, 2026 (BSS/AFP) - More than 100 Turkish coal miners who had marched for days to stage a hunger strike over unpaid wages were arrested on Tuesday, their union said.

After a nine-day, 200-kilometre (125-mile) march to Ankara from the neighbouring province of Ekisehir, the 110 miners arrived on Monday for a shirtless sit-in outside the energy ministry in the Turkish capital, before being surrounded by police.

"We are hungry," several of them had written across their bare skin.

The protesters were arrested and held for 14 hours, then released Tuesday evening, the Bagimsiz Maden-Is miners' union said on X.

"We'll be back tomorrow. We won't give up. No matter how many people you arrest, we're not going anywhere until we get our workers' rights," mining union chief Gokay Cakir said in a video.

Several high-profile figures voiced support for the miners, including prominent politician Ozgur Ozel, the leader of the main opposition party, the CHP, who wore a yellow miner's helmet in parliament in a show of solidarity.

The miners' union said they had been waiting outside the energy ministry to speak to an official about their plight.

But "the only response we received was the arrest of 110 of our colleagues," it said.

The lignite miners are demanding the payment of outstanding wages and redundancy pay from their employer, Doruk Mining.

"In this country, workers don't count, only money matters... Shame on those who run this country," union chief Cakir told the miners on Monday.

When questioned by AFP, the energy ministry declined to comment.